Bruce Lesley: 'Our First Task, Caring for Our Children'

Bruce Lesley: 'Our First Task, Caring for Our Children':

Our First Task, Caring for Our Children'

"This is our first task, caring for our children. It's our first job. If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right. That's how, as a society, we will be judged." - President Obama at the prayer vigil in Newtown, December 16, 2012

As our nation grieves for the children, the families, the teachers, and the first responders in the tragedy that has befallen Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., many feel utterly helpless or overwhelmed by the complexity of what should and really must be done in response. But, act we must.

Although much of the present conversation has been about gun violence (and that debate is both necessary and critically important), it is insufficient. The larger debate requires that we full address the array of issues to prevent these on-going acts of senseless violence and evil that make children the targets of violence in our society far too often. As the President said:

We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law,