“Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older When did, they?
When did she get to be a beauty? When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they, were, small?” (Sunrise, Sunset-Sheldon Harnick)
I don't remember growing older When did, they?
When did she get to be a beauty? When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they, were, small?” (Sunrise, Sunset-Sheldon Harnick)
The name “Parkland” has become a shorthand for the tragedy that many hoped would mark the beginning of the end of school massacres. But ask the survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in more quiet moments about the awful year since last Feb. 14, and they tell you a different, more personal story. About innocence lost. Dreams undone. Grief delayed. (New York Times)
The House Judiciary Committee passed a measure Wednesday that would require background checks for all gun sales and most gun transfers within the United States, the most significant gun-control legislation to advance this far in Congress in years. The committee spent more than nine hours debating the bill before voting 21 to 14 to advance it Wednesday night. Next, it will face a vote on the House floor. The measure was among the first actions taken by the newly elected Democratic majority, which pledged to make gun control a top issue. The bill also has the support of at least five Republicans, a rare feat given the issue often has cleaved along party lines. The committee also voted 23 to 15 to advance a bill that would close a loophole in the current background-check law that allows a gun purchase if a check is not completed in three days. (Washington Post)
14 and then 15 Republicans continued to vote no on this bill, a mere ripple in the deep dark depths of gun violence and murder in this nation. The same 14 or 15 GOP, however, will tell you that a zygote has the right to a lawyer, that a fetus should have its day in court. The same 14 or 15, will explain that the orphaned kids at the Southern Border, separated from their families, caged, some tortured deserved the punishment because seeking asylum for a better life, is not a good enough excuse to seek refuge into America. The 14 or 15 GOP MAGA maniacs will look the other way as Puerto Rican families are still without the necessary food and shelter to live a healthy life. The 14 or 15 will insist that Jesus never intended on affordable health care. And ask the 14 or 15 about the ongoing lead poisoning of the water in Flint and how many children will grow with diseases so avoidable, they will shrug and say that was so yesterday! Then ask the 14 or 15 about the Vice Presidents wife, Karen, working in a school which discriminates against LGBTQ youth and they will laugh, and tell you to mind your own business.
How does one ever stop mourning the loss of a loved one, especially, that little girl you carried and that little boy at play?
