Memorial to the innocents killed at Sandy Hook elementary. Photo by author.
W.J. Astore
Back in July, my wife and I visited the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Mass. At the shrine, there’s a simple, moving, memorial to the Sandy Hook children (see photo above).
Rarely has the Biblical phrase, “Jesus wept,” been sadder or more appropriate. Christ said to suffer the children to come unto me, for they are the kingdom of heaven. How have we as a society lost this message?
Children are our innocents; they are also our future. Yet far too many of them are mistreated–even murdered.
The Sandy Hook children are martyrs to an American society that is saturated in violence. A society that claims to put its trust in God even as it resolutely ignores His teachings.
We have to do a better job of protecting our children from our all-too-violent tendencies. As a friend put it, we need to do better than to hope our children are safe. We need to know that they are safe.
We need to know because the agony of more lost innocents is too much to bear.
W.J. Astore
The Contrary Perspective 
Your article refers to “our society” that claims to put a trust in God. So many of us use that sweeping term, “our society”. No, it is “US”, you, me, and all other citizens, as inidividuals, who have allowed this to happen.
Both those citizens of liberal bent who sit by and cluck, cluck when Obama lies that we do not kill innocents with drones and that the NSA isn’t doing anything unconstitutional. Those citizens who let their elected officials refer to them as consumers and treat them as such. Those legislators who act like royalty because they finally collected enough money from “friends seeking benefits” to be elected and forget abut their obligation to protect the constitution but do not forget their “friends with benefits”. And those citizens who are just outright too ignorant and will follow the few wealthy who really wish we weren’t a democracy but an autocracy of the rich.
Both the Democrats and the Republicans and our supposed ‘caring ‘ President didn’t care enough about those Newton children and teachers and the thousands of innocents who have been murdered since then to enact any meaningful restraints. But they have all rushed to approve a ‘Budget” bill that will starve more citizens, protect the 1% from paying their fair share of taxes, and reward the President with his favorite killing drone program and the military establishment with endless budgets to continue the perpetual wars and domestic spying they so love.
Citizens. Arise and take personal responsibility. Our great country was built on giving each citizen that responsibility.
Yes, we need active citizens committed to liberty, truth, freedom, and respect for each other. What we don’t need are passive consumers who think that citizenship starts and ends with their rights, and their rights alone.