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Michael's Metaphors of Life Journal

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The Sandy Hook School Shooting: Common Ground for the First Mile

December 16th, 2012 by Michael Dyet

Hmmm, where within the endless stories within stories of the Sandy Hook School Shooting tragedy can we find the common ground we so desperately need?

I heard about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting like most people did – through the media and through social network postings. I felt the collective, continent-wide shiver of sorrow, the aftershocks of outrage and the “How can something like this happen again?” cries of incomprehension.

So many stories within the story. So many subplots and offshoots and diverse perspectives.

Such overwhelming grief and despair for the families of the victims. Wounds that will never fully heal. Lives that will never be fully normal again.

Incomprehensible trauma for those who were present and survived. Afraid to close their eyes for fear of the nightmares. Fearful to step outside their homes into a world where such atrocities are possible.

Soul-crushing guilt and self-reproach for the remaining family members of the deeply trouble young man who perpetrated the act. Why did I not see it? Did I say or do something that pushed him over the edge? Do I grieve him or renounce him? How can I ever hold up my head in public again?

Daunting challenges for those who will have to walk through the school doors again and try to restore some sense of order, security and trust while trying not to keep looking over their shoulder.

The firestorm of the gun control debate fanned white hot again. This would never have happened if proper laws were in place. Individual rights versus the collective good – where is the tipping point? Tears are not enough – when will the powers that be finally act?

The mental health epidemic that no one seems to know how to stem. How emotional turmoil can reach such a state of utter despair that violence and bloodshed seem the only way out. Where do you even start to address a problem that lies hidden in plain sight?

How far should the media go in their responsibility to report tragedies? Who do we call to account when that responsibility migrates into a feeding frenzy that last for weeks?

Where was God in all of this? How can you have faith in a world where such horrific things happen? If I hear one more person say “My prayers go out to”…

What responsibility do we – who are hundreds or thousands of miles away from the scene of the event – have to prevent it from happening again? Is it enough to express our grief and outrage and add our voices to the cries for reform? Or does change start at our own doorstep?

Metaphors falter in the face of such overwhelming dilemmas. The questions are perplexing and never-ending. The answers are elusive – and it seems bordering on the impossible to arrive at a consensus.

Perhaps the best we can achieve is to put aside our divergent perspectives and our deep rooted, etched in stone opinions. Finding common ground is the first step. If we can unite in our grief and outrage, we may walk the first mile in the long, arduous road to a solution.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.

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