We all knew it was coming. We knew there would be another
shooting. At a school. Or a church. Or a concert. Or a nightclub. Or a post
office. It was just a matter of time.
Sure, we are shocked. But are we surprised? This is just the
world we live in. And the country we live in. What shocked me most was the
number of school shootings this year.
The year is barely six weeks old, and there have been eight school shootings
resulting in death or injury in 2018. Eight.
Here we go again with the politics. We need more gun laws. We
need better law enforcement. we need metal detectors…everywhere. We need more
vigilance to catch unstable people. We need counselors to help troubled youth
and troubled adults. We need to spend money on…something. But this is just the
surface of the problem. There is something deeper.
Something is wrong.
Has there ever been a society in which innocent people were
routinely targeted by member of that society? What leads people to be so
depressed, angry, lonely, rejected, despondent, frustrated that they plot and
carry out mass murder?
Something is wrong with the soul.
Too many people fail to see the value of human beings—others
and themselves. Too many people have no hope. The mass shootings are only one
example of the flagging American soul. The #MeToo movement reaches back decades
with disturbing stories of abuse. Men have been objectifying and mistreating
women for more than a generation. The rabid support for abortion in some
circles stuns me. Laws must allow women to choose whether or not their fetus is
a baby. It will have rights if I say it does.
Our society has been heading down this path for quite some time.
It is not a problem of laws or politics or funding.
Something is wrong with the soul of America.
Somehow we have strayed from the belief that “all men are
created equal.” Along the way we have forgotten that “all men” includes Native Americans
and Africans. It also includes all of mankind, not just the males. We have also
forgotten that these equally created persons are all “endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights.”
In other words, we have forgotten that people matter. We so personalize
our own rights that we forget the value of others. Our selfishness becomes
magnified when we find likeminded people and stop listening to dissenting
points of view. People who disagree with us are just stupid. Maybe they don’t deserve
to live. The world would be better off without them. We can “otherize” people very
effectively. Ask any hate group.
The soul of America needs compassion, hope, forgiveness,
love, justice, redemption. Our country needs the Good News.
God help us.
