The horrific events in Newtown, Conn., have haunted people everywhere. On Tuesday evening, Dec. 18, at the annual Winter Concert of the Falmouth Elementary School, I felt the spirits of 20 children, ages 6 and 7, from the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Parents with siblings and grandparents had traveled through gloomy weather to fill nearly every seat in the gymnasium. First, the band with 92 children performed five numbers, including “Jingle Bells” and “Band Room Boogie.”

Then, the fourth- and fifth-grade chorus of 141 boys and girls in white blouses with black skirts and slacks mounted bleachers, six tiers high. The boys were too young for their voices to have changed. As the first number, “Beautiful December,” began, the innocent and pure sound of the chorus filled the air. Anyone in the audience could easily conger up the image of 20 angels hovering above, also singing. Tears escaped this writer’s eyes and my daughter’s, she the mother of my two grandchildren, one in the chorus. It was hard to not think of the tragedy where innocence was mangled and disbelief stretched to the ultimate limit.

The last song, “Hot Cup of Cocoa,” a spirited ditty with the boys and girls clinking white mugs to toast the season, ended to loving applause. Then, youthful exuberance exploded as performers reconnected with their families. Parents hugged their children in slow motion, with renewed appreciation that their children were there.

Mike Brenner
Brooklyn, N.Y.