23 Days

My most recent posts and theme has been associated with Christmas and it's relativity to light, space, time and how far we move away from Dec. 25th and/or how close we'll eventually get to it again.  And the title of this post would lend one to think in terms of 23 days from Christmas Day.  But, it's hasn't been 23 days from Christmas if we do the math.  It's actually been just 13 days.  So, where is he coming up with 23 days?  I'm looking at 23 days from the Sandy Hook Tragedy.  The shock and sorrow of it's occurrence hasn't left me yet.  We returned to school this week and seeing the faces of the kindergartners in the room I'm assigned to has brought it all home.  I think of the parents of those 20 children so mercilessly slaughtered in what they so innocently believed was a safe haven, creates for me such a moral injustice that defies description.  I think of their worlds so disrupted in the blink of an eye, the stir of a moment, and how they're defining life (and death) in these last 23 days.  But life is a continuum and not matter what direction it occurs, they're sorrow and grief has been confirmed.  Words of consolation, prayer, discussion, and the absence of their children unfortunately does not minimize what has happened.  It's only been 23 days.  When my best friend died several years ago, I attempted to  chronicle his death by defining it in terms of the days since he had died.....10 days.....25 days.....60 days....  It was a bleak register of telling myself when that grief had occurred and how my life was progressing (or not) from it.  And even to this day, I can think in terms of Feb. 15, 2011 or Aug. 16, 2011 at being well over 800 days.  And while the time has certainly left me, the sadness and it's impact on me has not.  I think of these parents and how they may look upon next Dec. 14th, 2013 with the misery and anguish they will come to feel then; and not just on that day, but how they will discern this each day of their lives.

I know there has been an out pouring of compassionate and empathetic response for these families and the community of Newtown.  Here's mine.