The differences between Harvard and Newtown, Conn., are far fewer than the similarities. Both towns are largely residential, affluent, and well known for their community spirit. The calamity in Newtown last Friday — in which a single gunman shot 20 children and six educators to death at an elementary school before taking his own life — was as unthinkable, then, to the residents of that town as it would be to residents here.
That the massacre took its place along an alarming trend line of similar events nationwide over the past several years in no way deadens the shock. If asked, before Dec. 14, about the possibility of such a horrifying slaughter within its borders, the people of Newtown probably would have responded, with good reason, “It could never happen here.”
That response would have been the same in Harvard, and in countless American towns. No longer. The tragedy is that it took the lives of children for the country finally to confront the problems of out-of-control violence and ludicrously easy access to military-grade weaponry. One child dead is too many. Twenty is a disaster beyond comprehension. One more, now, would represent the massive failure of the national community to react speedily and decisively to a very real life-and-death situation.
The day of the deaths in Connecticut, President Obama said, “We’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”
We would add that meaningful action can start at the local level, with conversations between neighbors. With the lives of children at stake, we can’t let our leaders off the hook for this one. No community should ever have to suffer the way Newtown is.
