10 Comments

Well, I clicked that little heart, because that's what one does. But, like Kara Norman in her comment, I'm speechless too. You've imbued every word with *your* heart, not that emoji-heart up there. So much pain, Elissa, and so much powerlessness. So much beauty, and so much power. Thank you.

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Thank you for this. I like many others will not forget how we heard, where we were when we heard, what we were doing when we heard, and how we felt. However as you beautifully point out, I too assumed that the aftermath would be different. I assumed change. I could have never, ever imagined the putrid, hate filled spreaders of the hoax conspiracy theories. I could have never, ever imagined no change for a national gun policy. This was beautiful and halting to read.

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At 78 I think about safety a lot. This from “The Hero of This Book” by Elizabeth McCracken—“Watch out for safety. It will make you no longer yourself, only an object shaped that way.” Your writing is beautiful and true, thank you.

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Beautifully expressed, Elissa. Thank you

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I am speechless which doesn't often happen. The beauty, the horror, your words a gorgeous light in the room. The advanced degree is you, and those little souls <3

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Thank you.

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This is gorgeous in all the sharp-edged painful beauty of love, loss, and those moments of unknowing, of terror, or hope for a hero, and the stories of neighbors saving one another. Thank you for breaking my heart tonight.

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beautiful, and horrifying.

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Thank you for writing this sharp reminder. And thank the Gods for the phfumphiologists of the world. Better to rub nickels than punch the clock every day.

Some blame the Devil for guns?

Blame Man.

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The great irony is that horrific tragedy exists side by side with beauty that can also move us to tears. The trick I think is find ways to be present enough to take it all in and for me, to do what I can to make my little corner of the world less dark. I'm glad you're in it.

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