Assault sanctified
by righteousness—what warning
will sound loud enough?
Erased, revised, forgotten–
words dive deeper into sand.
Five years ago today 20 children and 6 adults were murdered by an assault rifle in Newtown, Connecticut.
Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/2006
Daniel Barden, 9/25/2005
Olivia Engel, 7/18/2006
Josephine Gay, 12/11/2005
Ana M Marquez-Greene, 4/4/2006
Dylan Hockley, 3/8/2006
Madeleine F Hsu, 7/10/2006
Catherine V Hubbard – 6/8/2006
Chase Kowalski, 10/31/2005
Jesse Lewis, 6/30/2006
James Mattioli, 3/22/2006
Grace McDonnell, 11/4/2005
Emilie Parker, 5/12/2006
Jack Pinto, 5/6/2006
Noah Pozner, 11/20/2006
Caroline Previdi, 9/7/2006
Jessica Rekos, 5/10/2006
Avielle Richman, 10/17/2006
Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/2006
Allison N Wyatt, 7/3/2006
Rachel Davino, 7/17/1983
Dawn Hochspring, 6/28/1965
Anne Marie Murphy, 7/25/1960
Lauren Russeau, 6/8/1982
Mary Sherlach, 2/11/1956
Victoria Soto, 11/04/1985
The poem uses words (synonyms) from Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday and The Secret Keeper. The art was originally posted on the 2-year anniversary of the shooting.
“More Americans have died from gunshots in the last 50 years than in all of the wars in American history.
Since 1968, more than 1.5 million Americans have died in gun-related incidents, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By comparison, approximately 1.2 million service members have been killed in every war in U.S. history, according to estimates from the Department of Veterans Affairs and iCasualties.org, a website that maintains an ongoing database of casualties from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” (NBC News)
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method two madness 
Good morning. This is so powerful – thank you very much for posting both the words and the beautiful image. The statistics say it all…..and yet we both know that inevitably there will be more shootings. I hope your day is filled with peace and love. Janet 🙂
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Thank you Janet. Yes, we can at least try to bring good things to our little parts of the world.
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We must all work together
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It’s hard to believe it’s been five years. It seems both more recent and long ago–so many shootings. Thank you for this powerful reminder, and your beautiful image.
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Thanks Merril. Those numbers just numb. And still nothing gets done (in fact, moving in the opposite direction…)
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It is horrifying and numbing.
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I can’t believe it’s five years. My soul weeps for the loss of these children. ❤
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Reblogged this on Colleen Chesebro✨The Fairy Whisperer✨ and commented:
Today is the five year anniversary of the school shooting in New Town, Connecticut. What a fitting tribute to the children who lost their lives to senseless gun violence. My heart weeps. ❤
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Thanks Colleen. Yes, weeping.
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The world’s gone mad. Your poem is haunting and beautiful, God bless those people and the families they left behind.
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Thank you Jacquie. They are certainly in my thoughts today.
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The other day at the grocery store I saw a truck with a decal on the window that depicted an assault rifle and said “Assault Life”. Part of me was itching to hang around and see what manner of creature would drive a vehicle so marked, and to even confront the person and ask just what that decal meant, but then a much larger part of me recalled that I am a progressive pacifist (driving a hybrid car no less) living in a concealed-carry state and thought that would be a very bad idea. I wish I could see the end to this conflict of ideals.
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I know, it’s hard for me to understand why anyone would desire owning a weapon whose only use is killing large numbers of people. Not only does there seem to be no end to it, I don’t see any beginnings to an end to it either…
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Thank you Kerfe for your post I’m still stunned.
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Thanks Sharon.
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Wow this is shocking!
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Thank you for this post. I too can’t believe it’s been five years since that horrible day.
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And so many more deaths in between…it’s heartbreaking. Thanks.
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Yes…. what’s truly unbelievable is that these tragedies continue to happen (a friend of mine lost her husband in a random mall shooting last year) – and nothing is being done to prevent them! It’s insane.
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Thank you so much for this…and for listing the murdered children and teachers. Thank you. I live in a state (Georgia) that gun violence is an everyday thing. First, in the black communities and then spilling over into other ones. You can’t pump your gas without fear of being in the cross fire. It is horrible and hateful to live in such an environment and it changes you inside and out. We live in fear.
And these politicians in DC do not know fear as we do. They live in gated communities or have their own security patrols. We have neither.
Guns kill….which is the express purpose of them.
Jane..
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Thank you Jane. You put it well: the only reason to own a gun is to kill. It seems that no amount of dead bodies will spur our political leaders into any action…
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This is so powerful. We have a 9/11 every month from gun violence in the US and our politicians and gun advocated don’t call that terrorism. No one of us or our children are safe.
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Thanks. Let’s hope the new year brings some sense to our responses to violence…(and less violence)
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