The Sandy Hook Elementary School Shootings…
First and foremost, the shootings are an absolute and horrific tragedy, one that I can’t imagine being more grim.
The media is, of course, all over the story, trying to come up with a ‘why’ to serve as a panacea to the public. Whatever they come up with, though, will ring hollow.
By all accounts, this was an act of cowardice by a young man with some fairly extreme mental health and social issues. It’s easy to blame the mom, especially since she can no longer defend herself. It’s even easy for the media to blame the older brother, who they mistakenly identified the shooter as initially.
The truth is this: there are some people in our society that are, in fact, broken in ways that we are unwilling or unable to confront. I was contacted by an online friend yesterday about her story…where she lives in dread every time something like this happens, because t could easily be her son. (Story here, in 3 parts…will open in new window).
The truth is also this…and most people don’t want to hear this…but this is the society we’ve created.
We’re now making a moral judgment about these actions when we’ve decided that it’s not politically correct to make moral judgments.
We’re now making a moral judgment about these actions when we’ve pushed Judeo-Christian morals out of schools and out of government.
We’re now making a moral judgment about these actions when we’ve decided that ethics are situational rather than absolute standards that we should attempt to uphold.
We’re now making a moral judgment about these actions when we’ve decided the motto to live by is “if it feels good, do it”.
We’re now making a moral judgment about these actions when we, as a nation, have no moral compass, no frame of reference.
We’re now making a moral judgment about these actions when our politicians, rather than confronting the reality, use it to make political points that result in loss of freedom for those who didn’t do this.
And we’ll likely go right along with it, because it is easier.
First and foremost, the shootings are an absolute and horrific tragedy, one that I can’t imagine being more grim. The media is, of course, all over the story, trying to come up with a ‘why’ to serve as a panacea to the public. Whatever they come up with, though, will ring hollow. By all accounts,…
Breaks my heart. And ready availability of guns IS what makes it possible. But I look deeper for a cause. I think it goes back to the Reagan era cuts in mental health. At the time our nation greatly cut funding for mental health institutions (closing many). The idea was to integrate these people into the community. Money saved by closing facilities was supposed to go into "wrap-around" programs that would help these people live and function successfully in the community. Guess what? The facilities were closed, but wrap-around programs didn't get the funding. People were put into communities without support. And it has been the same ever since…And what gets me is that prevention actually costs less! Much cheaper to treat the mentally ill than to: A. Ignore them. B. Incarcerate them. Was looking at some numbers yesterday. A few years ago Idaho GREATLY cut mental health services. Guess what? Costs to the state have greatly increased in terms of incarceration and emergency hospitalization. Maybe we shouldn't have cut off our nose to spite our face.
Good points. I agree. Without a moral compass, why would anyone know what is right and wrong. We judge and say "how could he have done this?" but then turn a blind eye when something less offensive or gruesome is at work. I also truly believe we want to blame guns, the parents, ect, but won't look at the mental health of this young man. What kind of fear did this parent live in? Banning guns is a bandaid solution. The sad thing is this will happen again, despite whatever solution is put into play. Yesterday I was reading something Max Lucado wrote about Jesus being born during a time where infants were murdered. We aren't the only ones to have been alive during much chaos and suffering. Jesus was born into it and knows full well our suffering and pain. It's disgraceful that we push him away and out of our lives. This is such a sad tragic event. Seeing the faces of those kids makes me hug mine a little more and appreciate the gift of homeschool even more.
On a separate note, I have a daughter with Aspergers and I truly hope the media does not spin this to say that Aspergers children are dangerous. My daughter has her problems and meltdowns and might be prone to suicide in the future (since she is so misunderstood) but she is also very loving and kind hearted. There is a big part of me that wishes someone would have done more for this kid. He obviously needed help and I'm sure there were warning signs before this ever happened.