The Writing Passion

                                                 Too Much

By Harriet May Savitz

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            It  happened to ten little girls <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Monday, October 2, 2006 at the West Nickel Mines Amish School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  But it also happened to all of those children in the West Nickel Mines Amish School.  And it happened as well to children all over the world.   They were innocent; they were helpless to fight back.  They were the most loved, the most needed, the most valued.  They were the future.\

            There is not a parent anywhere, a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, a grandparent, who does not look upon this tragedy as if it were their own and they think, “Too much. This is too much.

            There is not a person who has wronged, who has lied, who has hurt another, who has committed a crime, who does not think, “Too much.  This is too much.”

            There is not one of us who loves, who hates, who needs, who wants, who does not think, “Too much.  This is too much.”

            There is not a flower, a bud, a growing thing, a leaf stirring in the wind, a bird flying overhead, who does not look upon us and know.  “Too much.  This is too much.”

            We felt the bullets, we felt the tears, we felt the death, we felt the injustice, and we knew, “Too much.  This is too much.”

            The sound of violence was heard around the world.  By those who believed in a higher power, by those who visited places of worship, by those who shared what they had and gave to those who did not, by those who believed in goodness, by those who offered healing wherever it was needed, and they cried.  “Too much.  This is too much.”

            And then there were those who thought human beings evil, angry, greedy, selfish, violent, incapable of making a success of our world, that humanity had failed, but even they shouted, “Too much.  This is too much.”

            If we do not change, if we do not learn, if we do not listen, if we do not see, if we do not understand, if we do not become better, if we do not protect our young, if we do not teach them gentleness, we will be accepting what happened to those little girls in the schoolhouse in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

            We each can make a difference today.  We can reach out to someone with hope, we can become involved, we can look to our left and to our right at our neighbors, we can befriend, we can soothe, we can touch another human being and change their life for the better, we can volunteer, we can use our hours for the good of mankind, we can turn away from violence everywhere, on the television, in the video games, in the movies.  We can believe there is more to life than guns and bombs and killing.  We can teach others, spread the word, do what we can, with every breath.  We can say to ourselves each day it will not happen again.  And we can do all that is possible to see that it doesn’t.  We can remember.  We can go about our lives but always remember. And in tribute to those children who suffered, we can turn around our own lives to mean more.

            We can ask the questions.  Why?  How?  What for? 

            But there is only one answer. 

            Too much.  It is too much.    

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