TIM ZILAR, Kennewick

When evil struck down 20 beautiful children and six brave adults, it brought our nation to its knees in sorrow. The pain will not subside anytime soon, and for many it will last a lifetime.

The premature ending of these lives will lead to many questions on how we can prevent such tragedies from happening in the future. In the spirit of finding these solutions, I implore you all to extend your focus to include those young lives that our collective society has chosen not to save. With every life comes joy to others. We're reminded of this every time we see a new baby and can't help but smile at them.

"This is our first task -- caring for our children. It's our first job. If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right. That's how, as a society, we will be judged. And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we are meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we're doing enough to keep our children, all of them, safe from harm?" (President Obama's remarks at the Sandy Hook prayer vigil in Newtown, Conn.)