A Child's Desperate Call

On May 24, 2022 at 11:30 AM CDT, the lives of twenty one families were changed forever. An armed gunman entered the doors of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde Texas, killing nineteen beautiful children and two teachers, wounding several more. The days that followed were particularly chilling.

I was inside a gas station waiting in line to check out when I noticed one of the TVs inside was playing the local news. I usually don't ever pay much attention to these kinds of things, but this time was different. The headline was regarding the recent tragedy in Uvalde, and it showed a little girl at the podium in front of her school board. The question that I heard her ask is one that stayed with me:

"My best friend needed help. Why didn't you do more to help her? To help us?"

Immediately I had to set my items down, and take a few minutes to myself outside because of how much that one phrase made an impact. My first experience with news of this sort of weight came after Sandy Hook. I could've very well gone to school with many of the children lost in that, and the many more school shootings that have been seen in the United States.

I thought to myself, how can I artistically respond to something so horrific and brutal while still capturing the very reason why this little girl's message needs to be heard nationwide?

Uvalde was not the first, and lamentably will not be the last. Our most desperate, and vulnerable need their school to be a safe place to learn, grow, and prosper. A Child's Desperate Call is written to honor the nineteen beautiful children and two teachers lost in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

May our schools once again be a safe place to learn.