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Editorial: The power behind Zanis' calling

A check of the roster of communities touched by deadly shootings will find Greg Zanis was there at each to provide a bit of comfort in the gut-wrenching aftermath of grief, sadness and anger.

The Aurora carpenter often known as “the cross man” took it upon himself to go into his workshop and build white crosses, Stars of David, crescent moons and generic wreaths that he brought to each location as his way to honor and commemorate the innocent victims of mass shootings.

He was there for Columbine. He was there for Aurora, Colorado. He was there for Newtown, Connecticut. He was there for Las Vegas. He was there for Orlando, Florida. He was there for San Bernardino. He was there for Parkland, Florida. He was there for his hometown.

Zanis died last week after succumbing to cancer but he left behind a powerful legacy that goes beyond the physical creation of thousands of wooden crosses. Because, in that act, he proved people don't have to sit back and feel impotent in the face of big societal problems, such as gun violence. Did he stop any mass shootings or will his small show of humanity lead to a solution to the problem? Who can say? But he did something. And when lots of people do their little somethings in whatever way they can, that's how big problems get solved.

“He was a man of action who simply wanted to honor the lives of others,” Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin said in a statement. “In return, his life was one of honor and one that was celebrated throughout our nation and world. Heeding to Scripture 'pick up your cross and follow me,” Mr. Greg Zanis did just that. He picked up the crosses he made and followed his mission in the noblest of ways.”

Zanis began making crosses in 1996 to help grieve the murder of his father-in-law. He built one to honor a 6-year-old Aurora boy who was killed that year. Three years later, he drove to Colorado and placed crosses near Columbine High School. That was followed by more trips to grief-stricken communities than anyone would care to remember. Those crosses would become a symbol of the national ritual after every mass shooting.

Zanis saw the crosses as a calling of his faith, a stranger showing a simple act of kindness in the midst of something unimaginably tragic. Do it often enough and it becomes a powerful statement.

How sad that these events occurred and moved Zanis to go into his workshop to build crosses alone and drive cross-country to put them in place to help a community grieve. How heroic that he was always there to do it.

The cross-building mission has been taken over by Lutheran Church Charities. Here's hoping no more have to be built to honor gun violence victims.

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