Dear Editor,
We have been hearing with post-mass shootings “thoughts and prayers are not enough.” And here we are again, the same thing being said. I have always offered up my thoughts and prayers for bettering lives and situations. And I always will. But there comes a time we have to roll up our sleeves if we want God’s help.
All we hear today is talk, talk and more talk and nothing gets done. We have more guns in our country than we do people. We can’t have that many wildlife hunters as was my grandfather. And we have a higher rate of mass shootings than Europe and other major countries.
But then they have “common sense” laws. Gun laws that keep people safe. Yes, it may take a universal background check and more red tape to get a fire weapon. But aren’t our children worth it?
It’s all in the mindset. A mindset that can work here if we let it and vote in the right people and enough of them that will support it. For years the gun lobbyists have had Congress in their back pocket that has kept us on their hamster wheel of anxiety of not knowing when or where it will happen and who will be next.
Or worse, thinking it won’t happen again when it does, again and again. And it’s only getting worse and more frequent. And it isn’t helping that Trump’s administration is rolling back funding for mental health care.
As well, our own President displaying his own mental health well-being, spewing hate messages in all-caps in late night rants on his social media. Not a lovely thing to wake up to first thing in the morning. Nor is it inspiring.
We may never know all the disturbing problems in the heart and mind of this young man who murdered and injured innocent children praying in a Catholic church on their first day at school. But 9 out of 10 who commit such heinous acts are a by-product of someone else’s hate and condemnation of others.
It makes me think of a man who stopped me in Walmart and gave me a book about faith and religion. He seemed like a nice man with good intentions and so I took the book and went home and lightly read through it. It didn’t take me long to come to the conclusion its theme was to demonize the Catholic Church. So into the waste basket it went.
The F.B.I. report said this recent shooting was a Catholic hate crime. We should be teaching and spreading the message that in the bigger scheme of things we are all God’s children and that we are all equal in His eyes regardless of how we offer up our faith in Him.
No matter what possessions we have or not or what church we attend or not, God’s concerns are solely about the matters of the heart. Do we love ourselves and others as he and his son do. That we all play our part in co-partnership with God in caring for our humanity and our planet. Although basic but not easy as the history of mankind has shown.
I think God likes to keep it simple—it’s man who doesn’t. Although hate crimes have been on the rise for almost a decade now with immigrants and certain faith afflicted groups (with Christian nationalism on the rise). But with that said, with all the crazy-making and chaos we are in today, there are still people with love and kindness and compassion for everyone.
And the numbers are growing in voices and protests for equality and basic human rights for all. It is this that still gives me hope. So with our thoughts and prayers and doing what is right we can make a change.
Our children deserve better from us. They shouldn’t have to worry about being shot at school, church, or anywhere else. This is a bipartisan tragedy. We need to put politics aside and pass legislative gun laws that will keep all of us safe. Especially our children.
JM
