In loving memory of the children and the heroes of Sandy Hook Elementary School

Words cannot express the sadness the residents of Killingworth feel for this loss.  So many wonderful lives, so many wonderful hopes and dreams, have ended in so much cruelty.  We watch the news in horror, and as we see the images of the slain of Newtown, we notice the same twinkle in a fallen little girl’s eyes that we see in our own daughters’ eyes.  When we see the smile of a little boy who is no longer with us, we recognize the smile on our own sons’ faces.   As we weep in anguish from what happened to so many of our small town neighbors, we live in fear from the realization that the evil that always happened “somewhere else” has now happened here.

What brings us the most pain is just how little sense it makes.  Although the 9/11 attack still stands alone among the evils that mankind can inflict on each other we can at least understand that religious intolerance has the power to drive people to inflict such evil.  Although the cruelty of the Columbine massacre still haunts us to this day we can at least understand that school bullying can drive a student unable to deal with his feelings to lash out against his perceived persecutors.  Regardless of what it is that happens, we as rational beings struggle to find some confort from understanding why it happens.  This tragedy is different.  This tragedy had no purpose, no understanding, other than the sheer irrational desire to harm those whom were among the most innocent and harmless souls in the world.  This tragedy is a whole new level of evil.

If any of the survivors of this tragedy can read this, from one small town to another, please accept our most heartfelt sympathies, and our thoughts are with you and your families during this difficult time.   The only consolation we can offer you is that, from the memory of these loved ones, we have all learned how to become a better person ourselves.  Instead of just pushing our children off to school before reaching for the morning newspaper, we all stop to hug our children a little tighter now.  Instead of just ignoring those who we deem to be social outcasts that don’t know how to deal with their anger, we now understand we have the obligation to reach out to them, before it’s too late.  We have learned that we are, in fact, our brother’s keeper, and we are becoming the better for it.

We will not mention the shooter’s name.  We have no interest in humanizing a monster that has shown no interest in being a human being.  Instead, we will honor and remember the names of the victims and the heroes this monster sought to dehumanize with his actions.  In remembering these lost loved ones, we seek to show the evil responsible for this suffering that the attempt to dehumanize these lovely souls with its cruelty has failed.  These precious angels may be gone from our lives, but they will never be gone from our hearts.

They are:

- Charlotte Bacon, age 6
- Daniel Barden, age 7
- Rachel Davino, age 29
- Olivia Engel, age 6
- Josephine Gay, age 7
- Ana M. Marquez-Greene, age 6
- Dylan Hockley, age 6
- Dawn Hochsprung, age 47
- Madeleine F. Hsu, age 6
- Catherine V. Hubbard, age 6
- Chase Kowalski, age 7
- Jesse Lewis, age 6
- James Mattioli , age 6
- Grace McDonnell, age 7
- Anne Marie Murphy, age 52
- Emilie Parker, age 6
- Jack Pinto, age 6
- Noah Pozner, age 6
- Caroline Previdi, age 6
- Jessica Rekos, age 6
- Avielle Richman, age 6
- Lauren Rousseau, age 30
- Mary Sherlach, age 56
- Victoria Soto, age 27
- Benjamin Wheeler, age 6
- Allison N. Wyatt, age 6

We prefer to believe that they are in a better place now, a place where these children can be children forever, or can become children once more, in a place of innocence where they can run and play in the warm sunshine in peace forever.  In this realization, it is not they who are suffering, but us.  How we deal with this suffering is something we need to look into our own character to resolve, but regardless of who we all are separately or what we all stand for individually, today, especially during this Christmas season, let us renew the call for peace on Earth and good will toward all, together.

In loving memory of the children and the heroes of Sandy Hook Elementary School.