Another sad anniversary is approaching, Dec. 14, the first anniversary of the day 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and six adult staff members in a mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the village of Sandy Hook in Newtown, Conn.

Before driving to the school, Lanza shot and killed his mother Nancy at their Newtown home. As first responders arrived, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

It is a very dark day in American history. Ironically, it follows on the heels of Santa Lucia Day, the Season of Lights, the reminder that the long dark nights of winter will cease and the long days of the summer sun will return.

Dec. 14 now is a dark, bloody clot on the head of Uncle Sam, a darkening eclipse of the light and hope and righteousness of Santa Lucia.

The sane among us will mark the day with sorrow and remembrance, the soulless among us, those whose souls have been devoured by Fox Broadcasting, the NRA and the never-ending extreme right-wing media of the United States, will madly rush out to buy more guns and ammunition.

I doubt that we can do anything about gun idolatry in this nation. We must, merely, cling to our souls and hang on to them for dear life, our souls the agency through which we can determine what is right from what is wrong.

Karen Hedwig Backman, Federal Way