During the third week of advent, Sandy Hook elementary school became a grave for 26 children.

On December 14th, a Friday during the third week of advent, 26 people were shot and killed at Sandy Hook elementary school. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old.

I believe gathering here today is important. Our country easily memorializes those killed in military service, it’s a time honored tradition and simple story of self- sacrifice and loyalty. Our country should be just as unified in honoring the lives of  the children from Sandy Hook.  But we often fall silent. 

Because elementary school children going to school and not coming home holds a mirror up to  ourselves as Americans. It’s not a simple story of self-sacrifice and valor.

To mourn them means we have to face hard questions. 

That demands truth telling….that is terrifying.

How could this happen on our soil to our babies?

How can we send our kids to school knowing it could happen again tomorrow?

But the hardest question is what will we do to make change?

It takes a village to raise a child, and Because we are that Village we have a duty to take action on behalf of all our school children today.

I don’t want to only memorialize the children killed at Sandy Hook, I want to make sure more kids and Americans stay alive this year instead of being killed by their neighbors. We are here because we will  take action together.

We believe the future can be different and we are willing our country and our community to make changes. Even if it makes people uncomfortable.

We have to do what we haven’t done before.

WE have to tell the hard truths: like women have mental illness, access to guns and have been bullied and hard emotions to deal with but 90% of murders and mass shootings are committed by males.

I believe in order to change these shootings  and  make our kids safe we have to face the uncomfortable truth. But there is something else that is fueling the violence, this increasing entitlement to do harm. Specifically Males. We live in a growing “right to harm” national narrative, where inflicting violence on perceived enemies, political opponents or revenge is encouraged. 

Families of Sandy Hook won their lawsuit against Remington, because the court found Remington guilty of expanding their market for assault weapons through advertising campaigns that encouraged consumers ... to “launch offensive assaults against their perceived enemies' '. 

Our male friends, neighbors and teenagers are being targeted with this message. And it's working at an alarming rate.  This rallying cry from the gun industry is making money but it’s also making our country deadly for our kids.

We can change this.

So how do we do it?

We know common sense gun laws, reduce gun violence so we work relentlessly on them.

We need to start noticing and interrupting this dangerous male  “Right to Harm” message.

It’s not patriotic, 

It’s not Christian, 

And last time I checked killing is not manly or a family value.

We are here today because we won’t allow ourselves, our country or our communities to run away from this pain…because we believe in the possibility of better. And this possibility is fire in our bones. We won’t hide from our responsibility to make change, because our kids are worthy of us fighting for more. 

We the people, are not republicans or democrats, we are the ones who our children are counting on to work for and secure their futures.

We light a candle today to remember the children of Sandy Hook and recommit ourselves to acting for change.