Not Just Statistics

The numbers mean nothing

Just a few digits on paper

No one ever seems to realize

That that number is so important

That’s the number of souls now gone

That’s the number of fam’lies grieving

Go ahead and draw that number

Make a mark for each man lost

And think of all his friends

Think of the lives he touched

Think of the light in his eyes extinguished

Imagine shooting that many bullets

Imagine that many loud bangs

Imagine that many lying dead

Could you go to that many funerals,

Could you mourn those individuals,

Without going out of your mind?

So please stop looking at these numbers so

And learn to see them as lives lost

And families now in emotional pain

They aren’t just numbers, not just statistics

They’re brothers, fathers, friends,

They’re souls that ought to mean the world

Not just to those who love them

But to you and me as well