I’ve once again set my phone alarm clock to buzz every morning at 8:45. I first set this alarm after the shootings at Sandy Hook school in Newtown in December 2012. I had the alarm set for a long while but then lapsed into skipping it, then forgetting, and then the new habit was gone. Then came the Boston marathon in April 2013, and I set it again. I set it again after the Charleston shooting in 2015. Each time, I confess, I've let the practice eventually fade. After Uvalde, it’s time to set it again. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, please follow this link to a short essay I wrote for the “Good Letters” blog of Image Journal back in 2013. Then, please, would you also set your alarm?
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[Photo: taken of a toy dinosaur, no doubt lovingly placed, on a retaining wall I sometimes pass when I walk.]