Must every tragedy be a lesson?

Here we are, exactly one week removed from the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. I first heard the news while sitting with some co-workers at a company Christmas party. Like the rest of America, I was dumbfounded at the horror. That evening, after tucking my own children safely into bed, I sat on the couch paralyzed by the news coverage on TV. The weight of the event pressed so hard on my soul that it squeezed the tears from me, not as mournful sobbing but as a steady flow of