( CNN ) -- The second Boston bombing suspect is in custody . Now everyone will focus on what it all means , what `` lesson '' we can learn from the events . This is Martin Richard 's lesson : . `` No more hurting people . '' Martin Richard was one of three innocent bystanders to die on Patriot 's Day . As we debate issues of life and death in our state legislatures and Congress , we need to keep the picture of this boy and his sign not in our memories or Facebook walls , but on display . The worldwide response to that picture -- which his teacher , Rachel Moo , said was made as part of a school lesson on the shooting of Trayvon Martin -- has been both heart-stirring and heartbreaking . People are striving to remember and to honor , yes ; even more , though , they are trying to make his words real . Everyone killed in the Boston bombing , and during the events that flowed from it , was under 30 . Martin Richard was 8 years old ; how will his classmates handle their grief ? Krystle Campbell , age 29 , had moved to live with and help care for her ailing grandmother . Doctors had told Krystle 's mother she had survived the blast , but they had mistaken Krystle 's friend for Krystle . What must her mother and grandmother feel ? Lingzi Lu was a 23-year-old graduate student , the only child of her parents in China , who said learning of her death was `` a dagger in our hearts . '' Sean Collier , 26 , was shot multiple times while in his cruiser without drawing his gun . He had been a campus policeman with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for only a little over a year , and volunteered at the gym where one suspect trained as a boxer . Three days after the bombing of the Boston Marathon , the U.S. Senate defeated a bipartisan proposal aimed at curbing gun violence ; it would have required more widespread background checks for gun purchasers , something 90 % of Americans want . As a result of the bombing , immigration reform may soon become another political pingpong ball in the dysfunctional Senate . Every pundit and every politician feels every bit of bombast is justified . And the children ? Pictures and comments , memorials on Facebook . That 's all . `` No more hurting people . Peace . '' The injured : Martin 's father and older brother , Henry , escaped injury . His 6-year-old sister , Jane , lost a leg . Martin 's mother , Denise Richard , 43 , had brain surgery for a serious injury . The father , Bill Richard , 42 , returned home briefly from the hospital to get clothing , and a neighbor said he was pale , almost dazed , and too grief-stricken to talk . The sidewalk in front of their house is still covered with colored chalk drawings of butterflies , flowers , and stars that Richard and his sister had drawn before leaving for the marathon . Jack Hart , a former state senator , told the Boston Globe that the Richards are `` pillars of the community ... a model family , who somehow always found the time to give something back . '' `` Any tragedy of this sort is extraordinarily difficult , but when you know people , when it 's people in your life , in your school , that 's when it really hits home , '' The Boston Globe quoted a classmate of Martin 's , Colin Baker , 9 , who said about Martin : `` If somebody was left out , he would come say , 'Want to join my group ? ' He sticks up for kids . '' `` It should not have happened to him , '' Colin said to the Globe . `` It should not have happened to nobody . '' As I read and hear these responses , I keep thinking , what are we -- the adults -- what are we telling the children ? Do we think they do n't see the hollowness behind our hallowed words ? Do we think they do n't know the difference between courage and cowardice ? There 's a clichÃ© : `` Perfect is the enemy of the good . '' Apparently , legislation must be perfect , because even after this horror , we are still finding ways to divide people . Should suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev be treated as an enemy combatant ? Did the intelligence community pay little heed to the warning it received ? Questions . Questions . But let us pause to bury our dead and stand by the wounded as their struggle with the new reality of their lives . Some will have to learn how to simply stand up again -- wounded forever . We should hold Martin 's sign in our hearts and resolve to do better . Because , with President Barack Obama , `` I 'm assuming our expressions of grief and our commitment to do something different to prevent these things from happening are not empty words . '' I , too , believe that , `` sooner or later , we are going to get this right . The memories of those who died and many who are still suffering demand it . '' `` No more hurting people . Peace . '' The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Donna Brazile .
8-year - old Boston marathon runners had carried signs , ` ` No more hurting people '' Donna Brazile and others who died were also under 30 and were innocent victims of terror . During the same period , a bill to require background checks for more gun purchases failed . Brazile : Will we continue to fail because of senseless violence ?