How did we get here?

I don’t want to write about the atrocity~ the senseless~ murder of innocent children and school staff. I think we’ve all absorbed about as much as we can in the last few days. Now that the photos of these children have been released; now that we’ve seen parents attempt to tell the world about their 1st grader; now that we’ve seen the picture of a 27 year old woman who sacrificed her life to save the lives of her students and now that we’ve seen our President tell us that his administration has been through this scenario four times…it’s all too much to take in…and we ask “How did we get here?”

I think we got here by our own design. I know that some of you who read this will agree and some will not but I’m going to go out on a limb here and point the finger directly at ourselves.

• For fear of offending the countless religions and countless viewpoints, we have taken God and told Him that He is only allowed in certain places. We will worship you on Sunday, Lord, but you cannot follow us to school on Monday. You cannot be discussed in my workplace. You cannot be the focal point of who I elect to govern me. You cannot be the sole compass of my decision making. You, Lord, are asked to remain in my church where I will visit occasionally or not at all. When I need you, God, please make yourself available or I will doubt your existence.
• We pretend that there is no enemy prowling around, seeking to devour. This always confuses me. We believe in God (the one we allow limited access to our lives) but not in Satan, the father of all lies? Jesus took this enemy very seriously throughout the bible and warned us repeatedly of his deceitful ways. There IS an enemy and to ignore his existence is dangerous. To believe you aren’t in his path is ignorance.
• In absence of God, we still have the ability to be good people, right? Well, I ask you. How good are the people who amp up the violence in video games and movies to keep your children (and you!) entertained? You pay hard earned money to give violence access to your mind. How can we not expect our children to become desensitized to murder when the controller they hold in their hands is their gun?
• Morality, as a whole, is slipping away. Ideas once considered typical are now antiquated. I’ve seen 13 year olds drop curse words in front of their parents with no reaction, 10 year olds blatantly lie with no reprimand, and 14 year olds dress like they’re going clubbing. I’ve seen parents fail to lead by example and wonder why the next generation is repeating all of the same mistakes.

We’re no longer aware of anyone but ourselves. We’ve become a selfish group~ this creation of mankind. We walk through this life without any regard for the struggles of our brothers and sisters. We walk by homeless mothers because they’re probably on drugs and deserving of their own circumstance. We tune out the needs of people we know who may not have enough food on their table because we don’t want to interfere or seem better than they are. We go to our jobs and think we’ll never be unemployed and those who are may not be looking hard enough for a paycheck. We assume a great deal about other people without knowing their story.

We certainly don’t know what to do with the mentally ill. More importantly, we don’t really want to DO anything about them~ just keep them at arms length, really.

My heart is shattered over this school shooting and all that came before. The tears have fallen and will continue to fall, I’m sure, as we learn even more stories and try to piece it all together. Why did this happen? How did we get here? We’ve moved further and further away from all the truth and the light and moved closer to darkness and evil. Not just this shooter…US. Me and you. Our neighbors. Our kids. Our government. Our corporations. Our world.

Simple. Complex.
Understandable. Inexplainable.

So what can I do? I can pray and make changes in my life that are all about being an example, helping others, and allowing God in the darkest, dustiest corners of my soul. And I can lead others to that place, too…because there’s room there for all of us.

Be blessed,