As I sort through my thoughts, I look down at my hands and remember how small they once were,
When my Mom would hold on to each one of them tightly and happily swing me around.
Just like every young kid, my whole world was still new, filled with laughter, with love and with her.
She would hug me and hold me, and sometimes she’d scold me, but then kiss away every frown.
As a small child I knew that my mother would love me and always would help my light shine.
And when I got scared, or felt bad, or was angry, her love like a blanket was there.
It was great to be wanted, to feel that deep comfort, to have such an innocent time,
To be swaddled in light and be filled with contentment with not even one tiny care.
When I saw yesterday that nine shots had been fired just a block from my last Pittsburgh home,
I thought first of Uvalde, the Tops store in New York, then my mind went geography bound
To the 213 mass shootings we’ve witnessed that happened just this year alone,
And I feared for the lives of my neighbors and friends, When I saw a young mom on the ground
Holding Baby De’Avry and crying for help as she cradled her son to her chest.
Her small child was the victim of a gang drive-by shooting, a repetitive story too long.
And like so many others whose names we all know, he was taken, his soul put to rest.
Yes, her baby was just one more senseless victim, collateral damage, so wrong.
So now we must do everything that we can do to stop all this carnage and pain.
Like thinking and praying, and loving and caring, but most of all taking strong stands,
To work with our towns and our government leaders because this is really insane.
Our country must find every possible way to stop wiping this blood from our hands.
De”Avery
