There is a piece of time so brief to be overlooked but it’s important. It is that piece that separates what was before from forever on. It comes as someone asks, “Did you hear about Sandy Hook elementary school?” or “Have you seen the news?” And in this heartbeat before you know the answer, a “NO!” deep inside deafens everything, everything.

Before shock, before denial, before grief, before outrage, before words emerge as ineffectual and inadequate and possibly offensive, “NO!” comes.

Before feeling selfish relief to have been spared the worst, before the need to do something leads to action, before the futile task of searching for a “WHY?” Before fear leads us through familiar ways to absorb tragedy, before another round of prevention is forged, there is a “NO!”

Evil must evoke “NO!” It is important.