Journalist, Student, Raconteur, Misfit
Every time I turn around, there’s some part of the Newtown tragedy that seems to tear me open all over again. I saw my kids, only a couple of years older than the victims, in those 20 kids. Their loss, and the terror that must have proceeded it, destroys any defenses I’ve built to be able to look at events and try to make sense of them (my vocation, in a nutshell).
This piece makes me see my wife, my parents and many friends who chose to apply their energy and talents to teaching kids and who, I have no doubt at all, would have chosen to die to protect the kids. Teaching, sad to say, is now an irrational choice; smart, talented people could make far more money with far fewer headaches in nearly any other field, and even the time-servers could find niches that are far less scrutinized and criticized for equal pay. It’s like being a missionary or a soldier or a relief w