BROOKINGS – This past Monday, I visited with the some of the young men of Boy Scout Troop 1 here at our church. One of the leaders said that his boy was feeling some anxiety about the school shootings after Friday’s tragedy in Santa Fe, Texas. It’s understandable.
Even one of the students at the high school, Paige Curry, shared on a now-famous post she wasn’t shocked, since “It’s been happening everywhere,” she said. “I felt — I’ve always kind of felt like eventually it was going to happen here, too.”
Perhaps it was that quote of resignation, perhaps it is the political climate of a state I grew up in and love but which has some of the most gun-friendly laws in the U.S., perhaps we are not troubled by 4.7 million kids with access to unlocked and loaded firearms in their homes, perhaps we are already becoming numb to the tragic killing of our kids and youth…the national response is different than just three months ago when students led our national response.
(Their demands: ban high-capacity magazines, close loopholes in background check system, ban assault rifles.)
It is as if we are giving up and resigning ourselves to the next local tragedy and national headline of the week. If so, the tragedy of Santa Fe is doubly disheartening.
Recently, I learned that a TCU grad won the Miss USA pageant (#gofrogs). When asked to create a sign for a hypothetical march, her sign read, “Speak your voice.”
Perhaps, as people of faith, we need to continue to speak a voice which still proclaims the dream of peace and the hope of a meaningful solution which goes beyond prayers and discussions. #NeverAgain
From Isaiah 2:4-5, “4…they will beat their swords into iron plows and their spears into pruning tools…they will no longer learn how to make war. Come…let’s walk by the Lord’s light.”
