From halfway up

Another walk up the hill, pre-snow. Lights of Leesburg in the distance.

I decided at the last moment to go with Laura to a commemoration of the ten years since Sandy Hook. It was held at the Bahai center and organized by Moms Demand Action. Many names were read and honored, all victims of gun violence, some of hate crimes, some suicides, with blessings and other phrases offered up by persons of Bahai, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, or no faith, in all sorts of languages and accents. The children who died at Sandy Hook, however, were commemorated by the young son and daughter of a local principal. They read a list in pure, matter-of-fact voices: "So-and-so. She loved animals and jumping on a trampoline. She was six years old." "He loved his big brothers and liked playing video games. He was six years old." On and on.