Following the horrific school shootings in Uvalde in May of last year, I natively posted a standard “thoughts & prayers” message for the victims, families and communities that were devastated by these unspeakable events. Almost instantly I received multiple replies criticizing my attempt at compassionate messaging. Each reminded me that “thoughts and prayers” don’t prevent future tragedies like this from happening. Changes in beliefs, values, priorities and certainly behaviour MUST emerge if we genuinely desire to halt future senseless and brutal acts.
When I heard about the recent shootings in Nashville, I was careful to exercise greater discretion by not offering naively feeble statements as I did last year. In fact, I posted nothing because I now understand the hollow sentiments of these words. We are essentially accepting the inevitability of this abomination until the next one occurs. Praying for the families and moving forward is one of the laziest, ambivalent and meaningless responses to crisis anyone can deliver. Despite the outcry of “Enough is Enough” from parents, pathetically few steps will be taken to avoid similar outcomes from unfolding in our children’s schools.
The part with which I struggle is the lack of consensus regarding: (a) the systemic causes of school shootings and other inhuman acts, and; (b) preventive steps or strategies. Everyone appears to agree that mental illness is a major factor in mass shootings. But we have yet to agree universally on effective ways of identifying and treating emotional and psychological maladies. We insist more must be done to safeguard our kids’ well-being in school, but we are paranoid about government overreach and the loss of our freedoms. Stronger gun control legislation is required, but law-abiding gun owners should never be penalized.
Our society is broken. Fixing it may be monumentally complex. However, at the very least we can make some tedious progress in that direction by:
1) Placing our children’s safety as a top priority above our wants and desires;
2) Confronting some uncomfortable truths regarding the prevalence of Gun Cultists in our society with an insatiable fetish for high powered rifles and handguns;
3) Understanding how one’s rights should not encroach of the health and well-being of others;
4) Realizing the pain and anguish suffered by the families of victims of gun violence is exponentially greater than the temporary “scorn and hassle” endured by gun owners following mass shootings;
5) Acknowledging the absurdity of owning (and publicly brandishing) combat-style assault rifles like AR15s;
6) Recognizing there are other ways of protecting one’s family than owning firearms;
7) Abandoning the indifferent attitude toward mass shootings that has sickeningly engulfed large segments of our population, and;
8) Halting the glorification of anyone who uses lethal force whether it is justified or not.
I understand that the final suggestion may be the most difficult to embrace since our brave women and men in the military and on our police services often must employ deadly means to protect us. However, we cannot allow our base instincts of vengeance, bloodlust or malice get the better of us in such instances. Instead let’s ensure that our responses are guided by feelings of gratitude to the people in uniform who shield us from harm. Be relieved that a violent ordeal is over.
Stopping future violence in our schools and in the community-at-large demands that we become less complacent towards such repugnant deeds by adopting some of the above-listed eight (8) habits. As we aggressively practice and internalize these habits, eventually they become second nature. Only when we start engaging in these habits in the absence of conscious thought will we be ideally positioned to explore collective approaches to violence prevention anywhere.
Please know that my purpose in sharing these reflections is not to invalidate or trivialize the delivery of thoughts and prayers. Empathy among humans is heartbreakingly on the verge of extinction in our civilization and praying is a concrete means of restoring it. My point is the extension of thoughts and prayers must be superseded by a massively shared commitment to devising and implementing a strategy towards eradicating violence at all levels and in all forms.
Precisely what such a strategy resembles is unknown to us at this stage. Yet the sooner we embark on the path towards its discovery by embracing a few of the suggested habits, the more lives will be saved from a pointless and unspeakable tragedy.
