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Duke Columnist Weighs in On Newtown Massacre

Daniel Strunk, a Duke University student and regular columnist for The Chronicle, recently weighed in on the Newtown, Conn., massacre in a heartfelt column. Here are portions of that piece:

Beyond the uncomforting fact that “evil exists in this world,” I have found no encompassing consolation or calming rationalization for the needless deaths of those … individuals—or for that matter those who were killed in Wisconsin, Oregon, and Kansas. I am not sure I ever will.

Upon reading the first story of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting that came up on my Facebook newsfeed today, I said a prayer to God in heaven asking comfort for the families, Americans, and all those who grieved. Continuing on, however, I was thrown from my usual formality when engaging in such conversation with my Lord. Carried away in very ineloquent but passionate utterances, I proceeded to interject cries of disbelief about humanity. I lamented—and quite irately so. I decried that this evil might still exist in a society that could surely prevent it. That humanity could let such a tragedy occur. That our world, as we know it, could somehow turn the heart of that gunmen black as coal.

I continued reading the news story. I read that a young boy was carried out of his classroom by a police officer, bleeding from gunshot wounds. I read that Kindergartners, busy learning in their reading groups, had to run and hide in bathrooms from the “hammering” that their teachers told them was occurring—realizing (or maybe not realizing) that the “hammering” was really discharged bullets and the “hammer” was really a gun, wielded by yet another psycho who managed to get his finger around a trigger. I am not someone usually prone to displays of physical sentiment, but I found myself crying loudly at the end of that article. Picturing in my mind, as I couldn’t help but do, the vicious murder of eighteen young children in such a sacred space as a school building—I found it overwhelming. “I don’t want to die. I just want Christmas,” were the words of one girl lucky enough to survive with the help of a heroine teacher. Surely there are no words that could give voice to the senselessness of such a cruel wickedness, and thus impede the flow of tears dropping from the eyes of citizens across this world. …

And as someone who wrote columns routinely in high school and does so now in college, I like to think that I know, at least a little, how to give life to emotions and pain via words. I feel it is my job to do so—to discover how I might represent the emotions of my readership and myself. To give meaning to what we might have previously felt but never expressed. To say something of value or to clarify where murkiness exists. This is my job, and I oftentimes take pride in doing it.

Yet I worry I must fail in my job now. There are no words I could type or ideas I could express that could cut through the bloody murkiness brought upon the people of Newtown. There is no grand solace to be found in this event. Nothing that can erase the ache felt in the hearts of the fallen children’s parents, and the hearts of Americans across the country.

At times like these, all I can do is pray and hope. Pray that peace might be granted to those harmed. Hope that one day we might find meaning in this tragedy that has been so heinously exacted upon the people of Newtown. It’s not much I know. But it’s all I can offer. Today, let’s endeavor to pray and hope together. Tomorrow, let us dream our prayers and hopes come true.

Click here to read the entire column.

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