The collective grief is overwhelming and compounded by feelings of futility. We are horrified with news of COVID-19 deaths, drug overdoses, racial inequities, senseless death and destruction in Ukraine and never-ending gun violence. We feel powerless to turn the tide of suffering, so we turn off the TV, stop reading the detailed news in the press and change the radio station. Our hearts ache and we bury feelings to keep going.

Today, I am asking people to see and feel the pain. Can we picture running for our lives in Hannaford? Can we see our family sitting in church and being gunned down for no reason? Imagine our precious little ones, and the teachers who love and protect them, massacred in the local elementary school.

For today, I am letting myself imagine what the Texas school shooting was actually like for children who are the ages of my beloved granddaughters, and schoolteachers like my son and daughter-in-law.

We can no longer avert our eyes from the carnage.

Experts tell us that background checks, red flag laws, assault weapon bans, magazine clip restrictions and waiting periods help to reduce gun violence. We have the means to save innocent lives, yet we are numb and powerless. Every single one of our elected leaders has the authority to enact gun safety laws that will save lives. For today, let us force ourselves to look at the horror of gun violence and commit to change. Insist that our elected leaders do the same.

Judy Tupper
Yarmouth

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