As a country we challenge ourselves annually to #NeverForget 9/11. We also have to challenge ourselves to #NeverForgetSandyHook and one of the true tragedies of American history that occurred there at 9:41AM on December 14, 2012.

We must never forget the lives lost, including the twenty precious children.

In the process of writing this post, I was shocked to discover a community of Youtube-based conspiracy theorists who adamantly believe that the Sandy Hook massacre never happened, that it was all a giant hoax. Thankfully, very few people subscribe to that theory. But just in case you run into someone that does, Snopes.com has gone through great efforts to painstakingly debunk each of the ridiculous hoax claims: http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/newtown.asp

On some level, it's hard to blame them. The tragedy in Newtown is of such unrelenting horror that's it's easier for some to pretend that it did not happen at all.

But it did happen. The event should be permanently seared into our minds, a constant fuel for not words, but for concrete action to prevent these atrocities from occurring in the future.

Having a position in the gun control debate - no matter what that position is - in no way absolves us from the duty to take action to form real solutions to this national problem. All of us share that burden. All of us share that responsibility. All of us share the ire of the future should we shamefully choose to do nothing.

It begins by never forgetting tragedies like Sandy Hook, and using that anger to fuel real and lasting action.

#NeverForgetSandyHook