America Mourns Again...

The bodies were still warm, students were still fleeing, and emergency vehicles were still rushing to the scene last Wednesday in Parkland, FL, and this tragedy was already being made that much worse due to the emotionally charged, kneejerk politicizing by both sides of that spectrum.

There is a time and place for that, but this is not it.  Instead, let’s break this and all of these horrors into bite sized chunks.

First of all, while the investigation will continue on long after the last victim takes their final ride in a hearse, we need to come together as a community, both locally and nationally.  We need to put aside our differences and political agendas and allow the families, if they can, to come to grips with a day that changed their lives forever.  We need to respect and support them in their grief.  Whether we know any of the victims or their families or not, we can do that in a number of ways of which prayer is on the top of the list. 

Reach out to those you know and offer assistance.  If you know any of the scores of first responders, reach out to them as well because they are hurting and grieving with us.  Sure they see horrible stuff on a daily basis, but this is on an entirely different scale.  Donate blood and to family relief efforts, or whatever you’re able to do.

My point is, when any major tragedy occurs, we need to all help each other heal as much as possible.  This is worse than watching a loved one slowly succumb to a fatal disease, because as bad as that is, at least you know it’s coming and you can prepare yourself at least a little.  This horror is another stark reminder that we never know when, where, or how we will meet our end. 

So let’s do that first, let’s come together and heal.

Then, let’s have a serious, no name calling, no agenda driven, national discussion about what the real causes of such things are.  There are numerous things wrong with many contributing factors, and we need to unpack them all, discuss them, and come up with real solutions for them.

The question that weighs on me is if it is even possible for us, imperfect flesh and blood men and women who are great at creating problems and terrible at fixing them, to even come close to a solution.  But we have to try, because not only will these things continue, they will occur more frequently and with more severity.

My final thought for right now is we need to at least consider that we cannot rely on the government at any level to provide answers.  The old saying of “see something, say something” apparently falls on deaf ears these days.  We all need to be situationally aware of what is happening in our immediate sphere of influence, (which includes our social media sphere) and we need to be vigilant at all times.

For all the posturing of the politicians and media for this or that gun control, which simply doesn’t work, let me offer this metaphorical question.  If your basement at home kept flooding from ground water, would you even consider patching your roof which was and is in perfect condition and has nothing to do with the water in the basement…?!  The answer is that you wouldn’t; you would instead find a way to mitigate the ground water.

Let’s put our heads together and address the core problems and try something else for a change; and installing trained, armed security at every school immediately is a great place to start...!