A Tribute to Maine: What I Know to Be True

The past few days have been difficult to process as I watched my childhood home suffer. Even after processing a mass shooting in my husband’s hometown four years ago, I never imagined this would happen in mine.  I felt the need to pause on my public health questions to address the grief and hope within this tragedy.  I don’t want to address questions on public health policy for gun safety or anything that has a political lens right now.  In fact, no matter which side of the gun laws you are on, this is not the time for a debate or education.  I wish people on all sides would pause on their political lectures and allow a community to grieve for a moment.  

On October 25, a man opened fire in a bowling alley and then a restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, my birth city.  Not only was it where I was born, but one of my children was born two miles away from the bowling alley.