Monday, December 31, 2012

Hey Santa

Hey Santa

Hey Santa, can you bring me something good?

I thought I should get my request in early as I have a huge task for you and it might take you some extra time to get it all done, some extra planning on your part.

You see we have a big problem in our country.  We have too many guns that are falling into the hands of the wrong people.  The NRA thinks the answer is to have more guns, to put armed guards into our schools.

Where else would we have to put armed guards?  Movie theaters, shopping malls, the grocery store.  This can't be the answer. I guess this could be a form of job creation.  How many new jobs could that create? I shudder at the thought where this could take us.

I read that our country has over 300 millions guns in our homes.  300 million guns!  How many of those are weapons of mass destruction.  Weapons that belong only in the hands of  the military or police officers.

We lost too many people this last year in the matter of minutes because people had access to these weapons.  Twelve people were killed at a movie theater where the police were on site in less than 90 seconds.  Too late and 58 others were wounded in the carnage.

The politicians all echoed that the time was not right to have a serious conversation about guns.  They lamented that nothing could be done to prevent this from happening.  We looked away and hoped it wouldn't happen again.   Shameful...

There was something worse waiting to happen.  President Obama described the shootings at Sandy Hook elementary as the worst day in his Presidency.  The worst day of his Presidency?  What about the parents who dropped their children off at school that morning, trusting they would be safe.  Never to hug them again, to tuck them into bed at night.   20 children, and 6 teachers in a matter of minutes.  The killer had enough ammunition to kill every person in the school.  When the police arrived as cowards do, he turned the gun on himself.

So here is my request.  Since the government says nothing can be done and the loons at the NRA think the answer is to have more guns I am asking for your help to solve this problem.   So when you come down all the chimney's next Christmas eve, can you please remove all of the assault weapons.  We don't need these in our homes for protection, for hunting.  We don't need them in our world.

I know you don't every want anything like this to happen again.  Since we can't do anything about it, maybe you can.

Hey Santa.
Hey Santa, can you bring me something good?
A world without assault weapons.

Will you do this for Jasmine?

Thumbs up!
I met Jasmine at a fundraiser at a bowling alley that she used to work at to benefit the families of the Aurora theater shootings.  Jasmine had been shot in the leg.  Her tibia was fractured and has a long road of recovery facing her.  Jasmine is an avid bowler and she was bowling in a wheel chair the day I met her.  If you didn't bring this to her this last Christmas, please give her the gift of being able to bowl again and walk without pain.   Jasmine is one of the 58 survivors from that horrible night.


Will you do this for the children and the teachers at Santa Hook Elementary, for all of the friends and families whose hearts are broken?

Grace Audrey McDonnell, Age 7
Half a world away, the news about the shootings in Connecticut shook a town in Indonesia.  These are not the stories we want to tell and they are so important so I hope you will find the time to read Katie's story.

So Santa, how about it?  I haven't asked for anything in a long time and I have been good.  Really, I promise.

How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus, if we had nothing to believe in, no hope to hold onto. It would be as dreary as if there were no children like Grace and Charlotte, Daniel and Olivia, Josephine and Ana., Daniel and  Madeline, Catherine and Chase, Jesse and James, Emilie and Jack, Noah and Caroline, Jessica and Avielle, Benjamin and Allison. No laughter to lift our hearts, no smiles to gladden our lives.




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