This is Noah Pozner, forever six because of the unspeakable madness of Friday, December 14, 2012. A news reporter prompted me to write this blog on this very sad Sunday. He looked into the camera and asked if the viewers remember the killers’ name in the Columbine killings of 13 years ago. Two names quickly came to my mind, which I refuse to put in this blog. The reporter then asked if I, the viewer, remembered just ONE of the victims’ names at Columbine. My stomach tightened and I felt personal disgust, at the realization that I could not come up with a name. Then it hit me, that is the ONE reason this American shame continues.
The sick aggressors’ names are rattled off on the evening news as each mass shooting occurs. The next murderer wants his name in that infamous club. It has to STOP. This plague on our country has to stop with tighter restrictions on gun control. Personally, I would like to see a three-month training course and psychological evaluation given to anyone that wants to own a handgun. This blog, however, is not about my personal stance on a hot button political topic. I know that is odd coming from me, but today is about names. It is about the FACT that I am going to erase the killer’s name in Newtown, CT. from my memory. It is also a FACT that I am going to remember forever another name, that of one of the victims.
As I read online this morning, the list of victims in the shooting in Newtown, I closed my eyes and made a vow. I was going to pick one of the victims and remember them…truly remember that they existed on this earth…for the rest of my existence on this earth. One of the names was going to be inprinted on my psyche, along with a smiling face. Forevermore, when someone mentions Newtown, CT., I am going to associate it with the smile of a six-year-old boy. His name is Noah Pozner.
I am not related to Noah Pozner and know nothing of his life, other than the fact that it ended this last Friday at the age of six. Think about that for a minute, six years. I am sorry, but a lunatic does not get to decide if Noah’s being gets to end like that, I refuse to give him that victory.
Noah’s family and friends will have to grieve and live with the tragedy of his ending for the rest of their lives. I hope they get to a place someday where they can feel a smile ease across their face, when a memory walks passed them. It is a given that those that knew and loved this little boy will never forget him.
I am choosing today, right here and now, to join those that loved him. I vow to never forget Noah Pozner. Won’t you join me? Pick a name on the list from Newtown and vow to always remember. After this blog, I also vow to stop calling Noah a victim. Noah Pozner was a beautiful human being whose life was six years in length. For all I know, those six years might have contained more beauty and enlightenment than I have had in my fifty years on earth.
Noah Pozner existed, he was here with us, and now he is not. That is what I know, that is what I cannot change. What I can change is based on a name. I will never think or speak of the monster’s name again…or the monsters who came before him.
I will remember one name, until I remember no names.
His name is Noah Pozner.
Dyke in the Heart of Texas 