Alexandra Petri: Why are these acceptable sacrifices?

Robbie Ramirez, 10, holds onto his father, Robert Ramirez, during a vigil for victims of a Sunday evening shooting that left three people dead at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, Monday, July 29, 2019, in Gilroy, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)Loss comes in waves and is difficult to describe. At first the loss is the only thing you can see, snapped tight as a ripcord around your heart. Each absent thing is delineated against the background of what is there until what is missing is the only thing visible. But in time, the loss loses its sharpness, diffuses. The vanished footprints you used to see so clearly trail off into many paths never taken.

There is the old ache of looking alone at something…