Introductory Essay By Betsy L. Angert | Originally Published at EmpathyEducates.
'It's spring. The weather is beautiful. Everything is blooming with life. And all I think about is death,' Sam says. ~ Columbine Survivor Heads Back to the School 15 Years Later
On this the fifteen anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting it is time to remember what became our nations mission; we must protect our children. For Sam and his fellow survivors, it happens every year; it happens daily. The wave of emotions rushes in. He will always remember, as do we, what we experienced when we were overwhelmed. That sense of disbelief and grief occurs daily. For most of us, mass carnage is not the catalyst. The sun shines brightly. It is a clear day. Spring might be in the air, or possibly it is winter. Any trigger might stir us to remember…Children playing. Couples cooing. A song. A place. A marathon race.
In the month of April we have many reminders. The Oklahoma City bombing. The Columbine High School shooting. Virginia Tech. The Boston Marathon. In April, we see much killing. But these tragic episodes barely touch on what is brewing. The magnitude of mayhem is everywhere, even in our homes. In truth, what happens where we live can leave a long and lingering memory.
Thoughts of what was and is our daily routine might not seem sensational. Surely what occurs in our homes cannot compare to countless episodes of mass killing [or does it?] Bear in mind suicides.
In January 2011, at a sidewalk event in Tucson, Arizona ten persons were shot. Six people lost their lives, Chief Judge John Roll Gabe Zimmerman, and a nine-year-old girl, Christina-Taylor Green are now among the dearly departed. The then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords too was critically injured. The Newtown school shooting occurred in Connecticut in a mid-December. Between 1982 and 2012 six mass killings occurred in empathyeducates – Do We Protect Our Children?: