Selective Grief

I watched the television news which told of twenty schoolchildren killed without reason that we can comprehend in Connecticut. As is expected in these cases the leader of the United States spoke a few words. He spoke them, for he is a good orator, and as he spoke I hoped that Mr Obama’s words would bring a small measure of comfort to the bereaved. Then I saw it, a gesture by which Mr Obama undid any comfort his words may have brought.