The quiet in Newtown

On such a sensitive subject, I read through the comments after reading the article and I was thinking this same thing. The hell that is their day to day existence hasn't gotten better, and I can only imagine what the holidays will be like.
We had a couple at our church that lost their child suddenly and inexplicably, through a rare virus that struck quickly and ended quickly. And within a year, another who lost her baby to SIDS. The former through her family came up with a car race to honor her memory; the other a program that helps kids to relish special moments. At some point, they found a way to bless that memory and help heal their wounds. I wouldn't trust government to heal much of anything and that's probably the worst thing for them to hang on to. These people, bless their ravaged souls, need something positive to absorb.
All the firsts in a year are tough. I hope they find solace in a second time around.

 

That's helpful to read.

It's a tight, compelling read. You know, I'll say it wasn't that emotional to me. Saslow controls the scene too much for me to feel the emotions; the details seem so chosen for impact, quotes selected and shaped more for confirmation and momentum than characterization.

The best scene, to me, is the brief mother/daughter confrontation. It seems like the most authentic conversation in the story, the least filtered through what the writer deemed important.

This may read like a criticism, and, of a kind, it is, but not particularly to me. I'd argue it's a strength, a command of the message that projects emotion and intended moods. Really good writers, to borrow a line from the perfectly awful Days of Thunder, pick a line and drive through the proverbial wreck on the track. Saslow consistently does that very well.

 

I started sobbing when the neighbor came over and started telling the story about the little girl. The exact same moment the mother couldn't take it anymore, I couldn't take it anymore.

 

This should win a Pulitzer. If it doesn't, fuck the committee.

 

Everything Saslow does is excellent. This included. It didn't have the same effect on me as it did others, but I'm chalking that up to me not being a parent. I can't imagine having to report and write about that. Ugh.

 

What a truly awful thing to say. How on earth you can make that judgment based on the fact that they haven't gone back to work is completely beyond me.

 

Incredible story, and it also made me think of that old athlete cliche, "What happens when the cheering stops?"

Only in this case, what happens when everyone else moves on, and Newtown fades from memory? Those families still have to live with their pain, forever.

 

The "back to work" comment was, IMO, a bad way of looking at it.

But if there is one question Saslow doesn't address -- and counselors would -- is whether tying their son's death almost immediately to a political cause puts off for years the process of healing from the loss.

Mind you, I'm for widespread gun control. I side with the Newtown parents.

 

I have zero expertise in the area, but I am guessing that a change in legislation was supposed to help, be part of the healing.
In reality, it looks like the opposite happened.

 

Oddly....a cruel lesson in "if you depend on the government for ....fill in the blank.".......

 

I have two boys...one five and one three. Reading this was gripping and painful. I cannot imagine the despair.

My question...say background checks were passed. Would this lighten the load these parents are carrying? Tying the grief to the politics was, in my eyes, a bit inappropriate.

That being said, I pray these people find peace. I know they will never be the same, that every morning it will be hard to get out of bed and face the day.