Last week’s Nightmare Before Christmas, the slaughter of  20 precious children and 6 adults who tried in vain to save them should never be forgotten. Each of us in our own way takes something from this tragedy. There was a beautiful little child, described in many accounts as a blonde blue eyed angel. Her name, like my mothers was Grace. A family will pray and weep for little Jack Pinto, who loved his New York Giants and will head to heaven wearing the number 80 Jersey of his hero Victor Cruz. And I will long be inspired by the heroic teacher Vicky Soto, a vivacious 27-year-old who loved her job and the little first graders she taught and bravely put herself in the path of the demonic attacker.

There is so much to this story that is incomprehensible. There will be tributes and prayers and memorials for these victims of a twisted young man and yes, a twisted society, where violence - whether on the TV, the Xbox, or the big screen - is a profit center and the lives of the Jack Pinto’s and Vicky Soto’s are collateral damage; the cost of doing business.

What we owe these Angels from Newtown is to change things. Change them on so many levels. It’s time we calmly begin an intense national dialogue and take a hard look at what the numbers tell us. What the trends tell us. When Americans can’t go to a movie in Colorado or Christmas shopping in Oregon or for God’s sake first grade in Connecticut, something is wrong. We cannot hide behind the second amendment and pretend everything is ok. The founding fathers didn’t give us the right to bear arms so someone could pump eleven bullets into a 6 year old.

It’s not as easy as stricter gun control. The guns in Newtown were taken from the gunman’s mother. The guns on the Oregon attack were stolen in Aurora, Colorado and in Virginia Tech, they were legally purchased. Ban assault weapons? The New York Times, hardly the preferred newspaper of the NRA points out that between 1986 and this year 3 and a half million rifles similar to the one used in Newtown were sold in the US. Which means that almost all of the weapons are being used properly so far by those who purchased them for protection or sport. But yes, they do make things easier for lunatics and perhaps the mental health field is where the most changes need to be accomplished. There are too many unhinged people out there, for so many different reasons. We have to change….We are better than this.