Clif CleavelandAfter each mass shooting – whether Orlando, Dallas, San Bernardino, Newtown, Chattanooga, Charleston – governmental and institutional leaders call for us to keep the victims and their families in our thoughts and prayers. Impromptu memorials mark the sites of carnage as strangers bring flowers and other tributes for the victims.
After each tragedy we count the number of fatalities. Our flags fly at half-mast for a respectful interval. The victims are buried.
We have little time to regain our bearings before another shooting occurs, and the tragic cycle is repeated.
Families and friends of those killed bear lifelong burdens of sorrow. Survivors with physical wounds may never fully recover. We are offered little follow-up on the outcome of their injuries. How many will be paralyzed or lose a limb or deal with chronic pain? Emotional trauma is harder to assess among all those caught in the scenes of violence. These unseen injuries may never resolve.
Could we not honor the dead, the wounded and the grieving by taking steps as a society to prevent such repetitive carnage?