Precous Innocence Poem by Jim Yerman

Children sing uninhibitedly when they're happy…like they haven't got a care.
Children will begin to dance spontaneously when there's music in the air.

Children will climb as high as they can climb…before they realize they can fall.
Children will draw upon what they think is a canvas…before learning it's a wall.

Children treat everyone the same before being taught this kind of thinking may be flawed…Children marvel at the heavens before they ever hear of God.

I recently listened to a brother talk about losing his sister…and everything from him this took…when, ten years ago, he survived but his sister didn't…the murders at Sandy Hook.

What struck me most as I heard him speak of the day the murderer and their paths crossed was how his innocence was taken…the same day his sister's innocence was lost.

How she would never again sing or dance or draw upon a wall…
How she'll never marvel at the heavens…climb too high…or fall.

"I was able to do all the things my sister never would." Her brother sorrowfully exclaimed knowing from the moment she was taken his life would never be the same.

The more I listened to this young man speak about his life and his sister…now 10 years dead…I thought how the innocence we possess as children hangs from a tenuous thread.

How it can be lost in an instant like it was at Sandy Hook…taken by a gun in the hands of a maniac…and how once it's lost…or taken…we never get it back.

Which means it's up to those of us who understand…every woman…every man
to protect the innocence of our children for as long as we possibly can.

We know of ways that we can help…and with each new generation of children we get another chance….to allow them to innocently draw on walls, to climb, to sing….to dance.

But we keep failing our children…unable to work together on this problem…unable to unite….which makes me wonder how many more generations of children will lose their innocence…before we get it right.