4th

You yell that thoughts and prayers are not enough. You call your congressmen. You write postcards. You join groups. You march.

When a shooting happens you look up the town, the people. Watch the news for updates. Shake your head. Get mad.

But then…it happens.

The name of the town scrolling across the headlines of news organizations across the country, is your town. It’s the safe suburban hamlet you grew up in. The quiet town your family and friends still live in. The square you just took your own kids to get ice cream in. A parade you spent years riding your bike in, then years watching, then years leading young kids in your care as their camp counselor.

This time, you don’t need a map. You know everything. This time, it hits home.

Attending the parade in HP in the ‘90S.

That is what happened on the 4th of July 2022. The mass shooting of the day in the US, was in my town. Was in my square. Was at my parade.

The reality this time, is different. Yes, you cared before, but this time the emotions strike harder. Longer. Stronger. This time the panic and fear is your own.

Highland Park, you are a national news story because of a tragedy, you are now one of the hundreds of mass shootings in this country just this year. I will say that I expect this town, in it’s closeness, in its strong community core to rise from this. To grow. To shine. I expect the next time I see my hometown in the news, it will be because of something phenomenal, not fearful. But this is a tragedy of epic proportions we must allow ourselves to live within. We must allow it to be a piece of us.

The victims memorial- July 12th. A site I needed to see and understand with my own eyes.

But I’ll be honest. It’s a hit that is hard to take. One that for some will change them forever. One that some did not and will not survive. One that will add fuel to the already burning fire of political action, of unrest in the current status quo of our country, of voices demanding gun control is a right to life issue far above and beyond the current systems backwards views on what that means, and what and how the government should and can control that idea. It will surge people on, in ways I hope enact actual, meaningful action and change.

Because we are #HPStrong and we will not forget, we will not go quietly and we will not let this event become a small mark in history whose page turns to become nothing but a footnote. We are voices loud and many and powerful. We are Highland Park.