Words of hope, healing, and a pledge from the President of the United States.
President Obama was in Newtown, Connecticut today, attending a memorial for those who lost their lives in the mass shooting that took place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday. NPR reports that the President has pledged to take action. He said,
We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change … Surely we can do better than this. If there’s even one step we can take to avoid scenes of grief like those in Tucson, Aurora, and elsewhere … We can’t accept events like this as routine, Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage — that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited upon our children, year after year after year, is somehow the price of our freedom?
President Obama also spoke on parenting and community. He said,
Community means that we’re all parents, that they’re all our children. This is our first task: caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged. And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we’re meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children — all of them — safe from harm?
At the end of his speech, the President recited each of the 20 children’s names who were killed in the massacre on Friday. He then closed with a short blessing for the families, the community, and a nation in mourning.
Photo—AP/File