Tag Archives: mass shootings

To the Students

14 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by in Current Events, Pop, Social Justice

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Dear Students,

Some of you have been told that you will be reprimanded if you walk out in protest over gun safety and legislation. Some of you will still walk out- risking your reputations and your futures in the process.

And for that, I support you.

I support your concern that you do not want to die in a mass shooting.

I support your frustrations that the powers that be are not doing enough to protect your safety.

I support your sadness that has fallen over you as your adult leaders lack support for your voice.

As a faith leader, I have to attest that part of our sacred texts include prophets who spoke out against injustices. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the prophets called out the powers that be for treating their people and the strangers in their land as less than human.

In the New Testament, Jesus turned over tables when seeing injustices in the Temple. He wasn’t afraid to voice what he believed. That Divine Courage is what I hope to grow into as time passes.

Many of you have that same strength for risking everything you have over this issue. I don’t think I even have this much courage most of the time. So I commend you, students in my area. I send you love as you make the decisions. I send prayers of strength as you face the punishment.

You are shining a light that seems to be missing in our world. Please continue.

We will die without it.

*****

As always, my post is my opinion and does not represent any organization with which I am associated.

My Escape Route

11 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Current Events, Life, Pop, Religion, Television

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Image0009In front of my television I sit, ecstatic that a new season of Royal Pains begins again.  I soak up the scenes, excited that the story I’ve been following for five years is back on the small screen.

Prior to turning on the television, I watched a few classic episodes of Private Practice.  It was season two, and Naomi was running the practice into the ground, Charlotte and Cooper begin to date and Taye Diggs is, well, Taye Diggs.

And then I focus on the smooth taste of peanut butter fudge in my mouth and the Diet Coke bubbles dancing upon my tongue.

I think about all the people and places I could visit.  I talk on the phone to the people I love.

And in doing so, for small periods of time, I forget.

I forget that another shooting happened today.

I forget that two shootings happened today.

I forget that this is the third or fourth or five mass shooting in the past few weeks.

I forget that a mass shooting could happen wherever I was… wherever my family and friends were.

For just a little while, I forget.  And it’s because I have the luxury and privilege to forget.

Throughout this day my anger rose as I heard the statistics.  Seventy-four school shootings since Sandy Hook.  Forty-six THOUSAND dead from shootings since that horrific day in Newtown.

When will it end?

We express our concern over current gun laws.  We express concern that the entire system is broken – whether it be the legal system protecting domestic violence victims, programs for severely mentally ill people and the way unhealthy people access weapons and ammunition.  We voice our concern that our society is violent, obsessed with fear and shoot-’em-up fanatics.  We see how people feel entitled because of their privileged race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and we want people to hear how their entitlement is the equivalent of bullying – whether it’s misogyny, homophobia or racism.

But no one listens.  Nothing changes.

And 46,000 more people are dead.

So now I return back to binge-watching second season episodes of Private Practice… at least until tomorrow when I regain my resolve and strength to stand up for liberty and justice for all once again.

“O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? ”  – – Habakkuk 1:2