Friday, January 11, 2013

I have no Friday Confessions, today I stand on my soapbox

Normally I write my confessions every Friday. I tell you all that I did wrong, all the mistakes I made, and all of the stupid things I said and did.

I don't have it in me today to confess. I don't have it in me today to laugh. My heart is breaking because there was another school shooting. My heart is breaking because more families lives have been ripped apart.

What the HELL is wrong with us? What the HELL is going on in our society today? I just want to scream and cry. I just want this madness to stop.

Clearly, there is something broken in our society, something is broken in us. When you have kids that are so hurt, so confused, or so mentally disabled that they walk into a school and commit these horrible acts, this is clearly an indication that we have veered way off course.

After the shootings in Connecticut, I kept my mouth shut. I got on my knees, prayed for the families, and watched with horror the recounting of the events. I can't keep my mouth shut any more. I can't as an American sit by and watch my fellow country men destroy each other.

We are broken, we need a solution, and we are looking for it in the wrong way.

I will come right out and say it, I am a gun owner. Right now there is a ton of talk about gun control. In my opinion, we don't need more gun control, we don't need more laws, what we need is connection. This is not a gun problem. This is not a problem that the government can solve. This is a problem with people. No amount of laws are going to fix the problem. This is not a policy issue, this is not a legal issue, this is a people issue.

We need to connect to one another again. We need to seek out the lost, the broken, the lonely, and we need to love them. We need to listen to each other. We need to talk, really talk to one another. We need to turn of the television, throw away those damn violent video games, and connect to each other, on a deep, real, and personal level.

How many hours a day do we sit at our computers and blog, or tweet, or play games. When was the last time you sat across from someone on a plane or bus and had a conversation? For me, its been way too long. I pop in my headphones, put my nose in a book and zone out and ignore everyone around me.

What do we do about? How do we help each other, and ourselves.

I commit to you, that I am going to pray for this country every single day. I am going to pray for our people. I will connect with strangers, I will open up rather than keep myself closed off.

What can you do? What will you do?

4 comments:

Denise said...

I don't know about the shooting...


Connection is missing. I feel that too. The internet has not been all that great - I agree.

praying right along with you.

Brooke said...

i hadn't heard either :(

i need to get to know my neighbors. i stay in my house and never get to know those around me.

Rochelle said...

I heard about it immediately, but then again as the wife of a teacher, my husband calls me immediately when they hear about these things cause he knows how worried I get for him. I'm guessing not much media coverage since luckily no deaths. From what I hear the kid was bullied and was calling out names of those who bullied him. So no- guns are not at the heart of the problem. They are only the tools used by those who are broken. I don't own guns but do not think stricter laws would stop the violence. God Bless the teacher and counselor that were able to get the gun from him. They put their lives on the line to prevent anymore injuries and possible deaths!

Rebecca said...

I completely agree with you, you summed it up perfectly x