Too horrid to bear
Today lost, frightened, silenced
Voices of children
I have been thinking about the horrid events of this week and between numbness, bewilderment, anger, incredulity and pain I have noticed a few things.
People on both sides of the issue want to talk about guns.
I have heard things as stupid as “Gun owners need to own up to the blood on their hands.” and “If the teachers were allowed to carry guns this would not have happened.”.
If either of these statements make sense to you then read no further as you will not be able to contribute to a sane dialogue trying to understand what is going on here.
Can we have a sane talk about what this means culturally, spiritually, politically?
We need a discussion with no preconceived conclusions:
Do we need better gun control?
Is this really just an issue of violence control?
Can we ever foresee and stop those so horridly insane as to do something like this?
Could this really have been avoided or is this a tragedy akin to a tsunami or volcano by someone so damaged as to be almost nothing more than a natural disaster?
We will never know if we think we already have an answer so simple as thinking this is a gun issue.
Answer these first:
Can we expect children to feel safe even in the company of people they trust?
Can we expect parents to feel safe leaving their children in the hands of other people even those they trust?
The answer is yes.
Children will continue to go to school as we do trust each other. Parents will swallow their fears and love their children a little more and drop them of at school.
But don't stop talking if it can be an honest discussion. We need to know.