The Daily Banter

These Brave Educators

My Monday column...

It's difficult to know what to say because there are so many things to say. I want to write about gun control; I want to shame the politicians who allowed the assault weapons ban to expire and who subsequently have refused to stand up to the NRA; I want to write about all of the ridiculous arguments and slogans the NRA gun fetishists are throwing around to defend their deadly toys; I want to write about why Americans only seem to react to obscene events like this rather than to be proactive; I want to write about the fear and cowardice of the gun culture. There are thousands of thoughts and emotions spinning through my head, and I'd wager you're feeling the same way.

We're all still grasping for the right words to say about the horrifying massacre at the Sandy Hook School, and I will do my best in the coming days to verbalize so many of these ideas, but today I'd like to simply tell you about the heroes who were killed -- these brave educators who put their own lives at risk to protect their children and in doing so made it possible for so many of those children to enjoy their "entire lives ahead of them -- birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own," as President Obama said during his emotional remarks on Friday.

The heroes... [continue reading]