Twelve years ago, 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I vividly remember watching the television on a perpetual loop discussing the horrors of 20 families losing first-graders right before Christmas. The gunman fired 156 shots in less than five minutes and at the time, mass shootings were an anomaly. There was a public outcry to “do something” and prevent future tragedies like this.
Here we are, more than a decade later, with hardly anything different. The issue of gun control is so complex and so politicized that nothing substantive has been done in the intervening twelve years. No one has an acceptable solution for fixing everything, so there is movement on nothing.
If you find yourself facing a sensitive, daunting problem, focus your efforts on the next step, not the end goal. Make some progress. Take a baby step. Address one part of the issue. Find a morsel that you can agree on. Trying to eat the elephant in one bit is impossible. Take a tiny nibble — over and over again.
