Let Us Unite

On Friday, something horrible happened.  Something that brought the country together in grief and in fear.  On Friday, a single man entered a school and killed twenty children and six adults, and then he killed himself.  The nation has been left stunned.  We live in fear that this may happen again.  In a nearby county, one school official overheard a conversation between two administrators about emergency preparedness, thought they were talking about a gunman in the school, jumped out a window, and ran to a neighbor's house to call police.  After police arrived, they realized what had happened, and made statements that it was a good training exercise.  This would all be hilarious if it weren't so sad.

One thing we've all heard plenty of in the past few days are ways to try to keep this from happening again.  There's been talk of gun control, mental illness, video games, movies, the media, religion, anything you can think of.  And to some degree, each person who talks about these issues, probably has a valid point.

The problem that I'm noticing is that, when we should unite, when we should hold each other and mourn our loss, and tell each other that we love each other, we are instead dividing.  People who are for gun control are railing against the NRA who are fighting back.  People are angry with the government for our lack of mental health care, and that, of course, starts a whole new debate on health care in general.  People are angry with the media who, in turn, are yelling about free speech.  People are angry over the lack of religion in schools, but people of a faith other than Christianity, are shouting to have their voices heard too.  What I'm seeing is a lot of division.

I want to remind people what we're facing right now.  Right now, we are dealing with grief.  It's alright to be angry.  It's alright to be angry with God or with Adam Lanza.  It's alright to feel sad or depressed or disappointed.  Let us try, however, to feel those emotions together.  Take time to think about how the families in Connecticut feel.  Do you really think that the parents and loved ones of those 27 lost souls are really concerned about gun control or the media right now? 

Yes, these are all discussions we need to have.  Yes, changes need to be made.  Let us, however, keep things civil.  Let us remember that we are ALL upset.  The person who supports gun control feels the exact same way as the head of the NRA.  The priest feels the same as the atheist.  Pointing fingers, yelling, cursing...none of these will do anything to bring those people back.  If we want to honor their memory, let us do it together.  Let us not divide.  Let us unite.