Mending our nation
EDITOR: On the first day after the Sandy Hook School massacre, I held a candlelight vigil in the square. On the second day, I prayed in a church, then sobbed in my husband's arms at home.
On the third and fourth days, I returned to my elementary school music students with dry eyes and shame in my heart. We sang together, full voice.
On the fifth day, my students filled a theater to capacity, singing songs of love and peace. Our principal asked, "Can you sing from the West Coast all the way to the East Coast? Can you sing all the way to Newtown, Connecticut?"
"Yes," they roared.
On the sixth day, I wrote a letter to the editor. On the seventh day, I will honor Sandy Hook's music teacher, who saved her students behind a door blocked with the large, wooden xylophones we all know.
And by the 12th day of Christmas, my determination will be rock solid: My America looks after its mentally ill citizens; my America banishes military weapons from civil society. We band together, and we get this done, as a symphony, in concert. We mend this broken system now.
KATE FOLEY-BEINING
Healdsburg
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