NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Hundreds of people linked arms and formed a human chain throughout Nashville on the one-year mark of the Covenant School shooting, in an event organized by the group Voices for a Safer Tennessee.
As they linked arms in places like Centennial Park, this movement, organizers say, was not just for Covenant. It was bigger, for people like Annette Lake.
Annette was there Wednesday to raise awareness of mental illness and the hundreds of lives lost to preventable firearm tragedies each year.
Annette has lost both her father and son to suicide.
"It's tragic, this whole tragedy opens up a wound for us that, people are in pain, we don't know what causes that pain. we walk past each other every day and we don't know someone's hurting," Annette said. "We're not here alone, even though sometimes we feel very alone in whatever we're going through, and we can only make change if we unite together.
She says she envisions a world without gun violence, and with help for all those with mental illness.
She knows for now, it's a dream. But one day, she hopes it becomes a reality.
Cole is a person I think everyone should meet. After saving his sister's life, he's in a fight for his own. And yet he lives so joyfully, performing on stage and continuing to do what he loves. His family's story will both inspire you and make you reflect on your own. Click if you want to watch one of the most impressive young men in action, determined to write the lines of his own story despite the circumstances.
-Rebecca Schleicher
