Opinion: Remembering Newtown: Five years later and still no action on gun control
The anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut is Dec. 14. It was the first of many mass shootings that have taken place since 2012. It was by far the most horrific, and tragic, because of the age of the children that were massacred that day.
Happening 11 days before Christmas caused it to touch the lives of everyone that much more. It was impossible to grasp or feel what the parents of those children lived through.
The nation raised their voices demanding why, and how, it happened. The answers to both questions became the main feature of endless magazine and newspaper articles. The tragedy also brought to the public surface the gun control issue. It had long been a political football that somehow avoided responsible action.
We are now five years later and more mass shooting events have taken the lives of innocent people. After each occurrence there is a public outcry for gun control. What is the head count death limit before the politics of our civilized world will rebuff the influence of the NRA and take necessary action?
The Newtown tragedy stirred me dramatically. I am a retired international businessman and an amateur poet. After watching the media coverage and reading the newspaper reports, I became filled with emotional sadness. It lead to my writing a poem about the event that I entered in the National Amateur Poetry Competition. It was selected and published by Eber and Wein, in the 2015 anthology “Beyond the Sea, Golden Sands.” It is the only time it has been published.
Although the poem does not elicit literary significance, its subject matter is extremely important. Every year at this time I think back to that sad day and try to imagine what those parents lived through and how it must affect their Christmas feelings every year.
Tom McNichol is a resident of Indian Land
This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Opinion: Remembering Newtown: Five years later and still no action on gun control."