Do You Know Their Names?

I don't normally weigh in on current events, but this has been bothering me.  The South Carolina Church shooting was appalling, but what is nagging me more is that I don't know any of the victims' names.  I know the alledged shooter's name, but refuse to use it because if I say his name, I let him win.  People will have all these theories as to why the shootings happened, which I'll get into in a bit, but the bottom line is that everyone knows his name, but does anyone know one name from the victims?

I live in CT, in fact, I live in a town the borders Newtown.  The Sandy Hook shootings happened less than 3 years ago.  There were 26 victims, do you know any of their names?  I don't know all of them, but I know a few, which is good.  I will never say the shooter's name because he doesn't deserve to be remembered.  Newtown has razed his former house and have razed the school as well in an attempt to move on.  Even the shooter's brother wants nothing to do with it as he had the lawyer sell the house for $1 to the town.  The killer, whatever his reasons, doesn't deserve to be known or infamous as it turns out, because he did nothing to make the world better.

In Judaism, we say the names of the dead publicly because there may not be anyone left to remember them.  The names of all the victims of the church, of Sandy Hook, of Virginia Tech, of Columbine, of Oklahoma City etc., get one line in national and international media, while everything else focuses on the killer. The how and the why.  It was one of the Columbine killers who wrote in his manifesto (for lack of a better word), that he will forever be known for committing something so heinous.  That is why I don't use their names because they are now famous and their victims are slowly forgotten except by those who love them.  Even if there is an article about how one of the victims are being remembered, where it's a foundation, a shelter or a scholarship in their name, there is always a line about their killer.  It's disgraceful.

We shouldn't even care why these things happen anymore.  It boils down to the same thing, person gets gun and shoots a bunch of people because he can and then gets known for it.  It could be because of drugs, they are racist, angry, mentally ill or just evil; it doesn't matter.  Remember the ones that died because their lives, their stories mattered.  They had hopes, loves and dreams that were stolen from them by a person, for what ultimately ends up being no reason at all.  So don't try to find a reason, just know the names of the better people.

Remember these people: