As we observe the twelfth day of National Poetry Month 2024, I was thinking about how some dates come and go without being judged significant. They’re just days we go about our business and ordinary lives, doing what needs to be done and then climbing into bed at night to do it all over the next day.
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Other days are highly memorable … remarkable … seared into our brains for many years to come. An anniversary (of sorts) went by a couple weeks back. Since it was Holy Week, I made a conscientious decision to avoid marking the day, even though a sonnet I had written was intended for post on that day.
Oftentimes, it’s the tragedies which stick in our brains. This date was no exception. On March 27, 2023, an individual brought multiple firearms into a private school she had once attended and committed multiple murder. A twenty-eight year old person with a death wish, she had expected (according to at least one friend) to die that day. Before police ended her life, she had tallied six innocent victims (three adults, three children) at the school.
In its narrative of this sad day, Google characterizes the shooter as a “transgender man.” Additional references on the site use male pronouns to designate this individual who was born female. One would have to guess she was miserable in her life, but it’s absurd to expect the rest of society to be party to her unfortunate delusion! I will not.
Instead, let’s remember the three young children and the three school officials who were cruelly murdered. Let’s also remember their families who are forever bereft of their loved ones. The sonnet below was my response as I considered the horror of that day.
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It was predictable this tragedy would elicit cries about ending “gun violence” and/or providing cover for deranged people perceived to be pawns of “religious indoctrination” (most particularly Christian indoctrination). In reality, what occurred was a person with significant emotional/psychological issues suffered. She made a conscious decision once her suffering became intolerable.
At that point of intolerability, she decided to end her life and do so by means of a mini-bloodbath … what? to make herself feel better?!! Sad … for her and for all the people whose lives she touched during her twenty-eight years. Don’t ever give in to hopelessness.
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