The left behinds: Witnesses to tragedy
We've talked so much about the shooting victims in Newtown, those beautiful children shot dead in their classrooms, and the teachers, too. But not a lot is written about the witnesses to these tragedies, and how they, too, are changed for life. An article in Sunday Review in The New York Times yesterday talked about how we ignore those who have been wounded, or have been there at the scene of carnage. At little-noticed report , the story said, "suggested that children exposed to community violence might turn to violence themselves as 'a source of power, prestige, security, or even belongingness.'" It said these children -- who had seen friends gunned down on porches, or in parking lots, or were the victims of a random bullet like the 15-year-old, who only days before had sung at President Obama's inauguration, struck down by a stranger's anger at another -- needed help and professional counseling. Op-ed writer Alex Kotlowitz noted "a remarka...