I caught some of the news about the the families offering forgiveness to the killer during the arraignment. Wow! Could you do that? Not sure I could. Peggy Noonan captures it beautifully in her blog today. You can read it here. She calls it "A Bow to Charleston". Here is her conclusion.
"As I watched I felt I was witnessing something miraculous. I think I did. It was people looking into the eyes of evil, into the eyes of the sick and ignorant shooter who’d blasted a hole in their families, and explaining to him with the utmost forbearance that there is a better way."That way is through the love of Jesus Christ. They all said they forgive him and implored him to seek forgiveness through Jesus. Like I said...Wow. That is strength. That is love. That is living truly as a Christian.
And now (too soon) the analysis, the recriminations, the blame, the questioning, the solutions, etc start. I have so many thoughts about this latest episode that has shocked our national conscious that I can't really organize them very well to provide any coherent writing. Every time I start to think of composing something, my thoughts are a jumble of emotions. So here is a stream of consciousness. Maybe it won't make sense. Maybe some will be wrong. But it will make me feel better.
First, there is the expected cry for gun control. We've seen it every time something like this happens. Sandy Hook, Aurora, Columbine, Pennsylvania, Charleston. The hue and cry is that we have to do something. Ban assault rifles. Ban hand guns. Modify ammunition. Ban large magazines. Register everything remotely appearing to be a gun. And on and on and on. In his speech yesterday, Obama clearly stated he would do something if he could. But he can't. He has tried. No one can. It is politically impossible. We have come to the point in our politics that our decision makers are either owned by a lobby (in this case the gun lobby) or on one end of the political spectrum or the other and won't compromise. There have been a lot of ideas offered. Nothing gets traction. Now don't get me wrong. I'm a strong believer in the Second Amendment. I'm a Constitutionalist. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the right to bear arms that our founding Fathers wrote into the Constitution bears little resemblance to the gun culture we have today. There are so many guns in our society that it would be impossible to realistically control them. So I don't have an answer. I consider myself a moderate. I would be open to laws that would place limits on the types of guns people could own. But I guarantee that it couldn't get traction in today's polarized environment. I think it will have to wait until someday when we hopefully have an Executive and a Congress that respect each other and can work together. Until then, nothing will happen. And BTW, Obama said other countries don't have these kinds of events. Well that's just BS. Everyone has seen them.
The media and others are now trotting out the issue of racism. This deranged, sick, hateful individual killed 9 black people. So naturally racism is rampant in America. Add that to some of the episodes in the last year or so, and hysteria prevails. Now once again, don't get me wrong. We have racism in America. We are a country of 320 million people spanning thousands of square miles in 50 diverse states containing communities of all descriptions with widely varying histories. We also have a shameful part of our history that includes slavery. We have racism in America. But not everywhere. And not pervasive. And we have come a very, very long way in a relatively short time. Some will point to the large population of black men in prison. They will cite statistics of murders in the black community. They deplore the poverty, the despair, the hopelessness. But like most things, it's never as simple as a few statistics. There is massive black on black violence in America. There are cultural issues that deprive children of structure, of education, of family influence. I've written about this a few times previously. You can read them here and here. We have a big cultural problem. But there are solutions. We've seen them. There is a strong and rising black middle class in many parts of the country. There are charter schools that are experiencing wonderful success despite teacher union pushback. We see black men steping up to responsibility which is fundamental to repair the damage done to the family structure. Now I don't for a minute want to minimize the problem, but personal responsibility, increased opportunities, and increased education are the keys. And those of us who are more fortunate than our fellow citizens living in despair have to step up. We have to find ways to help. The maddening thing is that when something like Charleston or Ferguson or Baltimore or others happens, the first thing that the pundits and the rabble rousers jump to is racism. How about looking all all sides? How about assessing what is real and what are fabrications? How about looking at every event on it's own merits? The number one thing that contributes to the thought that racism is pervasive is the stereotyping of groups of people. Whether it's blacks, whites, cops, whatever...stereotyping makes it easy to come up with a generic solution. The reality is that we have to start looking at people and situations individually and hold them accountable for their actions.
Through all of these episodes, there is a very large issue that is consistently ignored. That is the state of our mental health structure and treatment in this country. The main thing that every episode has in common is that the perpetrators are mentally ill. They have significant and dangerous mental health issues. And they haven't been treated, other than given some drugs that seems to make them worse, or they haven't been confined. They've all committed their crimes with guns, but some were given guns, some stole them, some got them legitimately. But it's not the guns, it's the people. These guys are sick. And yet they continue to walk the streets until they explode. For my money, if we're able to attack anything, that would be it. I don't think there would be much pushback if there were laws enacted, research funded, and facilities constructed to help these people. The state of mental health treatment in the Untied States is shameful. But it could be improved. All it takes is will.
So that brings me back to the beginning. Forgiveness. How did the people in Charleston find the strength to forgive? I'm in awe of them. I'm also in awe of the coming together of the people of Charleston...black and white...to pray together, to cry together, and to forgive together. I just hope and pray it can continue. I hope that external forces won't derail their journey to a place of peace by persuading them to hate the sinner. By telling them that the problem is a gun, not a sick mind. By persuading them that some can never achieve their dreams because others are still holding them back.
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