Lord, when babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond thoughts and prayers.
Lord, when babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond thoughts and prayers. CHAPLAIN BARRY BLACK
Are there times when thoughts and prayers are simply an inefficient response to the matters at hand?
If you were in a tenuous position and you had other solutions than thoughts and prayers, would you avail yourself of those solutions or would you rely entirely on thoughts and prayers?
It is unconscionable to me that every single day there is a mass shooting in the United States. This was unheard of when I was a child. When I was a kid, we were doing drop drills in which we were instructed to crawl under the desk, and huddle in a fetal position to protect ourselves, presumably from an atomic blast. Equally unconscionable, in my opinion.
The situation that the gun lobby has put this country into by representing a tiny majority of Americans that help complete a Republican party roster, is continuously turning a blind eye to the horrific fact that not only are our children and our teachers being exposed to the insane weaponry of an A.R. 15, but now our law enforcement are having to boldly jump in and potentially risk their lives against this insane fire power, in order to suppress a disturbed human being during these kinds of horror shows.
How could that possibly be tolerated by the majority of Americans?
As a victim of violent crime, earlier in my life, I was held at gunpoint with the gun to the back of my head, and I heard the trigger get cocked, and I knew that I was going to die in the next minute. If anybody would have cause or reason to want to own an intense violent weapon, it would most certainly be me.
But I don’t have one.
Instead, I became a second-degree black belt, because the truth is that even if I had had an A.R. 15 in the house, I wouldn’t have had access to it when my number was pulled to become a crime statistic on that fateful day. The ability to use all of the weaponry that my body is equipped with, coupled with the training necessary to defend myself, is really the only thing that I might have had opportunity to utilize in that horrific chapter.
So, while I understand how and why people want to feel protected, allowing mentally disturbed people to have access to an assault rifle that will kill anything in its path, and which will increase the diameter of the entrance wound by 400% as it exits the other side of the body, is unquestionably an unfair ask.
It just doesn’t make sense. It is imperative that we stand up to the gun lobby, and make the safety of our children, teachers and law enforcement officers a clear and top priority to our lawmakers, so that these horrific chapters in our country will terminate or at minimum, substantially reduce in frequency.
Yesterday, when Chaplain Black spoke these words at the opening of the Senate session, he closed by quoting Edmund Burke, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good people to do nothing.”
Complacency is not an option. Take a stand.
Happy Thursday!
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