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Wake UP!

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i bought this clock at the Walmart in Socorro many years ago.   the only place in town that had such things.  The only clock there that looked like an actual clock.     At the time i didn't really believe it would work.   it's just plastic.  a single AA battery  (whose cover has long since been lost) .   I can't remember what need prompted it.    In the last maybe 20 years i might have set the alarm less than 4 times.    and not in the last 5 since i've been here.   Did a trial run last night and yup.  it even has a Snooze function.   Tomorrow morning i need to be up and out of here by 8am.   Emrie's Holiday Celebration at her school.  Her kindergarden performs.   

Today is 10 years since Sandy Hook.   off and on i listened to  stories.   and i think tonight  that i could never,  all my life,  have imagined carrying a thought with me that it could be here.   Probability slight.  Possibility real.   I thought of Emrie.  all the friends she's made.   and it  made the stories i listened to today all the more vivid.   Anything we can do,  ALL things we can possibly do  to stop gun violence.   It's been 10 years.

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4 responses to “Wake UP!”

  1. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    You are in for a most wonderful experience, Emrie and her class, performing for family and friends- one of the best gifts to receive at any time but especially JOYFUL at Christmas. I can just see her, beaming with pride, in her Christmas dress, unless she is wearing a costume; this morning will fly right into your heart. Do hope you can manage to take a photo or two.
    **************************n***********************************
    10 years…10 years later since Sandy Hook, I wish I could say that things have gotten better but the plain fact is that gun violence has escalated, over 4300 shootings, 38 of them in school even though there have been measures to stop these senseless acts of violence. So many have worked so hard to bring this issue front and center, the Parkland kids, etc, and so many others have worked tirelessly to change this cycle.
    From CBS News last night: A month after Sandy Hook, a mother who lost her 6 yr old son Dylan, Nicole Hockley helped launch Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit focused on protecting America’s children from gun violence. “The organization’s “Know the Signs” program teaches children and adults how to identify at-risk behaviors and intervene. The programs are used in more than 23,000 schools nationwide and have helped stop at least 11 credible planned school shootings in seven states, the group says.”This spectrum of violence is an escalating thing. Someone doesn’t go straight to suicide or homicide,” said Hockley, who is CEO of the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation. “So we’re focused on what we call upstream violence prevention — how do we, at the earlier end of that scale, intervene and get help.”
    “Earlier this year, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun-related legislation in 30 years. It includes enhanced background checks for gun buyers under 21 years old, invests money into mental health resources and provides funding to states for “red flag” laws, which enable authorities to confiscate guns from individuals deemed dangerous. 
    There has been change at the state level, too. The number of states requiring background checks on all handgun sales went from 14 to 21. Nineteen states added “red flag” laws and eight states, including Connecticut, have banned assault rifles, which account for more than 85% of mass shooting deaths and was the gun used in the Sandy Hook shooting.”

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  2. Liz A Avatar
    Liz A

    we went to Griffin’s 4th grade choir concert … they sang songs of peace and one with the lyric that went something like “if you try to divide us it will just unite us” … the only nods to the holiday were the gentle Dona Nobis Pacem and a rollicking Jingle Bell Rock finale … afterward G said “I didn’t know there would be so many people” …

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  3. Laura Avatar
    Laura

    I imagine Emrie in all her glory. Have a wonderful day, Grace!

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  4. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    Oh you’re going to have a great time .. Emrie will not take her eyes off you. 10 years .. we cannot give up which is getting harder but we have to keep believing that change will come.

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