I got an email yesterday from my church. Henceforth, both the front and side doors will be locked as soon as the choir members make their entrance and will remain locked for the entire service. Any latecomers will have to ring a bell and have someone get up from the congregation and go let them in. I suppose you can guess why church leaders feel this is necessary for our safety.
As I think of that change in our church, I read of the massacre at an El Paso Walmart that took place today, in which at least 20 people were killed including a four-month-old infant and two children. If that were the only mass shooting this week, it would be horrible enough. But it’s not the only one. It’s the third or fourth in this country this week including one other Walmart. Mass shootings are no longer a rarity; they’re a regular occurrence that no longer shocks us like the University of Texas tower shooting did or the Columbine slaughter.
I don’t like this country anymore. I don’t like what we’ve become nor the fact that we’ve discarded values and responsibilities in order to have unlimited access to every whim that takes us, whether it be good for us as a person or as a people or not. And if you want to tell me to go back where I came from--you would be telling me to return to the country that Americans have suffered and died to make a better place, where we were still working to do better. We were making progress, sometimes maddenly slow progress, but progress nonetheless.
I don’t want to ever go to Walmart again. I’m seriously considering giving up church. I’ve already stopped going to movies or parks or festivals or any place where masses of people gather. These losses make me sad. And if my children or grandson were still school-age, they would not be attending school. They’d have to make do with my home schooling.
I’m sorry if this sounds political or if any of you take offense. I mean it; I truly am sorry. But I’m also puzzled. I can’t understand why more Americans, all Americans, don’t feel this way. To me, it isn’t political at all. It’s human. If God can cry, I expect he’s in tears most of the time these days.
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On 08/04/2019, Mary Lines said ...
I feel the same way you do. It used to be considered an honor to hold office in the United States. Now it seems that people only run for office to satisfy some personal agenda rather than serve our country. Serve! That's the key word - they are elected to SERVE their country, not themselves. People have lost touch with each other and I blame social media a lot for that. Tipper Gore had it right a long time ago when she said that video games would be the undoing of our youth. I believe it's true. And I believe it is partly behind all the shootings we see taking place - video games have made violence commonplace.
On 08/04/2019, Barbara Anne said ...
Amen, sister Susan.
For my 2 cents, the problems are more to do with the violence routine on TV, in the movies, and the sad attitude that if things get difficult, the quit, fight, or get a divorce at the drop of a hat (I'm not saying that all divorces are unnecessary, so don't go there). Families and communities need to pull together for the common good, helping those who need help and not arrogantly acting as thought some folks are poor because they don't work hard or that people with mental problems don't need actual medical care, ETC.
I'm crying , too.
Big hugs!
On 08/04/2019, Barb Barna said ...
As a Canadian neighbour, a fellow quilter and a long time reader of your blog, I have an opinion or two on this. Some would say it is none of my business, and to some degree it would be true, however the nonsense that has gone on since the election of your president has had a ripple effect right up to our northern borders. While I agree with Mary Lines and Barbara Anne about the commonality of violence on social media, television , video games, it would seem that the moral compass of some in power is also aggravating the issue. I hope and pray that someone with some common sense and love for the American people (and I mean all Americans) can get this on track.
Barb from Canada
On 08/05/2019, Ruth said ...
Sadly it starts at the top imo. The best solution is to vote out of office any representative that this tolerating this behavior. Citizens should not have to fear going to church, shopping and leisurely pastimes.
On 08/12/2019, Fran in Texas said ...
El Paso is my home town. I am heart broken and angry that this happened to the good people of my city. This was perpetrated by an outsider who was misinformed and radicalized by an evil white supremacist philosophy. The same philosophy that exterminated 6 million Jews during Hitler's reign of terror. Never in my life did I imagine that White Supremacy begin to take root again anywhere in the world, much less in the United States of America. I always thought that surely the good people of the world would stand up and stop it if it were to happen again. Now I see how it happened in Germany. Good people were afraid to speak up and take action. The only action we can take is to vote our conscience in 2020. Are we going to stand by and let enboldened Nazis take over our country? Are we going to permit the carnage to continue? I pray not.
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