On November 22, a beautiful insightful thirteen year old girl was killed by a stray bullet in her bedroom. This could have been anyone's child, anywhere. But the irony of Sandra Parks' death is just too tragic to ignore.
In a time when most of us, even those who own guns and believe in the 2nd amendment, are saying "Enough is enough. Our children go to school and we wonder if they will return to us. Little ones go through emergency training for active shooter situations, just so those who want to own automatic weapons can. What other reason is there for our legislators not listening to the rising scream from parents, students and victims in this country to do something to stem the violence.
Sandra Parks was sad about what was happening and wrote a poignant essay when she was in the sixth grade. And now, this beautiful child of peace is dead. Please read her essay and think about how we can all do something to stem the violence that is taking hold in our country.
This is not the experience in other countries, only ours.
Please share her words so that this wonderful young woman's words might make a difference to someone. Read more on CNN or google gun violence on Twitter. There's plenty of information out there if you'd like to be informed about the real facts.
Our Truth by Sandra Parks
"Our first truth is that we must start caring about each other," she wrote. "We need to be empathetic and try to walk in each other's shoes. ... We shall overcome, when we love ourselves and the people around us. Then, we become our brothers keeper."
Dozens of people gathered for a vigil outside Sandra's home Tuesday night. They held up a plaque with her essay on it as they reflected on her calls against violence.
Her mother, Bernice Parks, said her daughter constantly spoke out against violence. "My baby was not violent. My baby did not like violence," she said.
During an appearance on Wisconsin Public Radio last year, Sandra said she picked the topic of violence for her essay because of the constant news on shootings.
"All you hear about is somebody dying or somebody getting shot and people do not just think about whose father or son or granddaughter or grandson who it was that was just killed," she said.
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