May 25, 2022
There is pain that goes beyond description and in all our hearts we are faced with the near impossibility of processing the truth that yesterday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, at least 19 children and two teachers have lost their lives to gun violence. Again, tragedy has rocked our nation — all within days of hatred and violence that has left us in tears and reminding ourselves to hold tight to hope. At times like this — it is not about the answers. It is about saying — enough! Yesterday’s shooting marks at least the 30th shooting at a K-12 school in 2022, according to a CNN count, and is the deadliest at a U.S. grade school since the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary nearly a decade ago. How much time, and how many children’s lives, must be lost before action is taken to protect our communities, churches, schools — and, most vulnerable — our children from gun violence? Thoughts and prayers are not enough.
Schools scared to death.
The truth is, one education under desks,
Stooped low from bullets;
That plunge when we ask
Where our children
Shall live
& how
& if
— Amanda Gorman, Poet
