There are few things in life more heart-rending than the death of innocent children.
It happened far more frequently in earlier times, of course. But that only makes it more difficult for us to cope when something like the tragedy in Newtown occurs, with twenty 6- and 7-year-olds gunned down by a madman. One minute they were alive, their eyes bright with eagerness, lives of limitless possibilities ahead of them. The next they were lifeless, lying in pools of blood, irretrievably lost to those who brought them into the world and loved them beyond measure.
But cope we must, each in his own way.
When the great German poet Friedrich Rückert lost two of his children to scarlet fever in the 1830s, he wrote a total of 428 poems called Kindertotenlieder (“Songs on the Death of Children”). Five were later set to music by Gustav Mahler, among the greatest of song cycles.
When the coke and steel magnate Henry Clay Frick lost his oldest child, Martha, at age 6, he bore her death with the stoic acceptance that Victorian social mores expected. Afterwards he never mentioned her, except once a year, on her birthday, when he would quietly tell his family, “Martha would have been so-many years old today.” Many years later, when a Pittsburgh savings bank that specialized in accounts for children collapsed, Frick quietly made up the losses of the young depositors. On each of the checks he sent them was engraved the picture of his own irrecoverable loss, Martha.
William Allen White, owner and editor of the Emporia, Kansas, Gazette, was one of the most prominent journalists in the country in the early 20th century, the voice of small-town America. His daughter, Mary, died at age 16 in a horse riding accident in 1921. He personally wrote her obituary for the Gazette, an obituary reprinted throughout the country and anthologized ever since, one of the most famous pieces of American journalism ever written.
Perhaps its last paragraph can give comfort to those twenty families who grieve in Connecticut today:
A rift in the clouds in a gray day threw a shaft of sunlight upon her coffin as her nervous, energetic little body sank to its last sleep. But the soul of her, the glowing, gorgeous, fervent soul of her, surely was flaming in eager joy upon some other dawn.
I'm thinking that no words offer much comfort. There is the stark, raw shock of unfathomable loss, then time's passing to buffer, not eradicate, its pain. Consequent good works help. But, always, the pain, abiding as a wound with which one lives until the day one dies.
I read in the JPost today of the sentence of one of the collaborators in the very evil murder of the five members of the Fogel family in Israel. Three small children, a mother, and father all butchered with knives. These murders were not by insane killers. They were instigated by Muslim preachers and political leaders. I also remember a similar case that occurred in Gaza a few years ago when five small children and their mother were butchered by Muslims in an automobile. This happens so often to Jews over the centuries that what little hue and cry, if any at all by the press, is made is soon forgotten.
"Perhaps its last paragraph can give comfort to those twenty families who grieve in Connecticut today…" n nEnough words! Time for action — gun control action! There is no reason for civilians to possess military weaponry. Restore the assault weapon ban!
Please do enlighten us as to what military weaponry it is that we civilians possess? I'd also be interested to hear your definition of an "assault" weapon. Not sure how you think more gov't control would have prevented this tragedy or why you believe the feds need more control over everyone. Concrete examples would be awesome…
Time for action. Every Principal and a percentage of teachers should have training and access to a weapon nearby.
HillelA posted this gem. n"Enough words! Time for action — gun control action! There is no reason for civilians to possess military weaponry. Restore the assault weapon ban!" nNo sir, not enough words, not nearly enough. The facts do not back up your premise, you're misguided in your emotional response. People like this boy, do not care about the "laws" you pass, nor do any criminals. These people will get guns, knifes, explosives, or something else to kill when that little voice inside tells them to. nTry using a little common sense and think about a different outcome in Con. The gunman shot or broke his way into the school. First stop, the main office. If just one person in that office was trained in and had a weapon, 20 precious little lives might still be with us today.
So, since the pointy-headed historians see this in its context, i.e. that life has always been cruel, we should just suck it up and buy more guns. You guys are incredible!
It's better than letting children die just because you hate the gun nuts.