On the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, a focus on compassion will help end the systemic violence in the US, writes Jennifer Hubbard, whose 6-year-old daughter, Catherine, died in the 2012 massacre.
CNN – I have found myself lately thinking about the simple instruction offered to my daughter when she was learning to ride horses. The instructor assured Catherine she would steer where she stared. Week after week she would gently urge Catherine to “look forward to where you want to go. Whisper [her horse] will take you there.”
As I face this horrendous anniversary, I am realizing the teacher’s assurances are the truth.
My daughter, Catherine, was one of the first graders lost in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012. She was 6 years old when she died. Altogether, 20 children and six adults died in the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.
Much of the weeks that followed are now a blur, but I distinctly remember a few things about driving through our iconic town center. One was seeing Catherine’s name spelled out on a board behind flickering candles.
The outpouring of support in our small, quintessential New England town and the people from other states, filling sidewalks and assembling makeshift memorials for our loved ones, was overwhelming. Their empathy was palpable.
It was somehow as if they came to make right the senseless violence that not only took our loved ones but also snatched our country’s innocence.
Source: Opinion: Ten years after Sandy Hook, a mother offers a simple solution for ending gun violence | CNN