Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Again and Never Again


Again 
Another senseless violent school shooting 
Again multiple lives changed forever 
Again I do not understand – how such a disturbed young man 
Can have had such easy access to a gun 
Bent on mass destruction—of the lives of others 
And of the life that perhaps long ago was once his own 
Reading the accounts, I am saddened by the tremendous loss 
I grieve for the families and with them and thousands of others in my heart 
The question WHY never to be answered 
Why the warning signs weren’t enough…..
As I read through the paper, I see 
Again, horrid atrocities
Men bound and kneeling before being shot and dumped in a shallow grave 
A young girl gang raped in front of her father 
An internationally known runner tortured for his beliefs 
Women sexually assaulted and this being culturally acceptable
The list goes on and I can read no more 
My optimism and my hope are dimmed 
No gun control 
No genocide stopped 
No protection for those desperate to flee 
Nowhere to turn 
I seek God 
Breathe, needing hope, optimism, peace
Determined to not just be silent 
For in my silence I am complicit in having nothing change
And yet 
I wonder 
What can I do? 
Give me a specific….  There are so many from which to choose
What can I do? 
I do not understand how people, each one once an innocent child, 
Can be so cruel—filled with such hatred, anger and fear 
As to be so violent against one another 
What can I do?
What steps can I take that will bring about actions that say 
NEVER AGAIN 


© Anne Cressin, 2018



Virginia Tech students hiding in Holden Hall during massacre
Photo April 16, 2007, by William Chase Damiano
from Wikimedia Commons  


March for Change Rally following Sandy Hook school killings
Photo February 14, 2013
from Wikimedia Commons



















Memorial for Pulse nightclub mass shooting
Photo July 8, 2016
from Wikimedia Commons








Student lie-in at the White House to protest gun laws
after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS
Photo February 19, 2018
by Lorie Shaull
from Wikimedia Commons

2 comments:

jean said...

You have spoken for all of us, Anne. Thank you.

Diane Harner said...

Thanks for this, Anne. It is powerful!!