After 20 children and their teachers were gunned down in Newtown, Conn., I spent hours tearfully watching the coverage and asking, as many Americans did, why?
I could barely look at my own nearly 6-year-old without feeling a twinge of guilt over the fact that I could scoop him up in a cascade of kisses and laughter while these families were feeling unimaginable pain.
On our first day back to school after Christmas break, while moms everywhere posted on their Facebook status that they were excited to finally get their kids out of the house and back to school, I could only think about the parents in Newtown. This was the first of many milestones that would march on without them as constant reminders of the lives lost.
Then, the fights over gun control began: in the media, on Facebook, in the commissary line.
I’m not going to enter that fray. I’m not going to argue with you, dear reader, over what the Constitution guarantees us, what types of weapons you or I should be allowed to posses or what kinds of restrictions should be placed on buyers.
I have a very strong opinion on this topic. But frankly, you are not the one who needs to hear it.
What I am going to tell you is that whatever your opinion, you need to speak up. Not to me, not to your neighbor, don’t shout it in capital letters on your Facebook wall. Tell your Congressman.
Clearly, action is going to be taken. This tragedy has brought the issue to the top of our legislators’ list of priorities. Their job is to represent you. It is your right to express your opinion and their duty to listen, determine what the majority of their constituents want and then fight to make it happen.
Tomorrow morning, my representatives are going to receive a thoughtful but very strongly worded letter in their inbox from me. Personally, I want change and I’m going to the men and women who I hope can make it happen.
You can scream and complain about the way this nation is run but until you actually take part in the process, a process that was designed to be led by the people and for the people, you’re just wasting your time.
America is not easy. We have a lot of very tough issues to untangle. But until we start taking part in the process, and helping to come to a solution, we really are just compounding the problem.
Speak up. Be heard. This is your nation. Don’t sit on the sidelines and complain about the decisions that were made. Instead, help make them.
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