Since our founding, we have been honored to receive songs and art from people across the U.S., mostly created as a way to express their feelings of both sadness and hope following the Sandy Hook shooting. While we can’t share all of them with you, we did want to show you this one that captured our hearts.
On the day of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, songwriter Stacey Fergusson struggled to explain the horrific events to her 10-year-old son when picking him up from school. Tears welling in his eyes, he responded, “I feel hollow inside.” Then he asked, “How did this happen? Why weren’t they safe at school? What can we do?”
Through the lyrics of “Still Beautiful,” Stacey encourages her son to look for the light in the darkest places by seeing the loving actions of others and to reach out in service. The song reminds us that the world is “still beautiful” even in our sorrow, and suggests that we “let love lead” as we meet each day, words that we at Sandy Hook Promise have embraced in many of our speeches.
“Still Beautiful” is performed by Vanaka, featuring award-winning artist JR Richards (Original Lead Singer / Songwriter of ‘Dishwalla’), who also produced and co-wrote the song. To bring the song to justice visually, and with the utmost respect for such a delicate topic, director Min Reid created a video using the stunning art form of ballet to express the emotions in the song and reveal the metaphor of life as an elegant dance in which we balance grief, fear and shadow with grace, strength and light.
We hope you watch the award-winning video and then share it with your family and friends.
