What do you expect to read in the newspaper on the day following Christmas and Hanukkah? Fatal shootings led the news in my area. Two were shot dead in the town next to mine, and four died by gunfire in a town an hour’s drive away. That’s just around here. We can safely speculate that the lives of many others ended at the wrong end of a gun elsewhere in our nation during this holiday. One is too many.

This is how we celebrate two sacred holidays in America.

Ending lives. Think of it. Snuffed out, to live no more. No more laughter, no more time spent in the company of loved ones, no more chances to contribute talent, intellect, love and energy to the world. Gone forever. Dead. Because someone with a gun wanted it so.

Consider the power that someone with a gun holds over others. Over us. The one with a gun decides whether we continue living or die in that moment. That’s it. Just squeeze the trigger. Are you comfortable with that? Neither am I. Why in a civilized society do we allow virtually everyone to be armed, to carry weapons and be equipped with the ability to cause someone else’s life to end in a moment of anger?

Why?

Who among us possesses the courage to bring an end to this madness?