Still Grieving

Five days after the massacre in Newtown, Conn., our nation is still gripped with a profound sadness. The slaughter of 20 first-graders never will be fathomable, especially when all their little bodies were riddled with multiple bullets.

I think of my own precious 3½-year-old granddaughter, how vivacious and precocious, yet innocent, she is. I wonder what she will become when she grows up. I cannot imagine the pain of those parents grieving over their murdered children.

And it is still time to grieve over little girls such as Olivia Engel and Emilie Parker. It is not the occasion to launch into a debate about gun control, although that substantive discussion needs to happen down the line. Nor is it appropriate to equate the killings of these children with abortion, and politicize President Obama’s stance on the topic.

It’s not even time, yet, to delve into the depths of shooter Adam Lanza’s troubled mind. Whether mental illness or sheer evil is more to blame, suffice is to know that the plot had satanic origins.

No, it is time to mourn with those who mourn, and weep with those who weep.

As we struggle to heal from this, I am encouraged by the accounts of heroism by teachers and staff to get schoolchildren to safety. Their quick thinking, plus the rapid response of law enforcement personnel, may have saved scores — or even hundreds — more lives.

I’m also hopeful that the nation still expresses collective rage at such an act. If we become callous to murder of elementary school pupils, our country really would be in trouble.