Who Are We?

Today’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut may well rip this country apart. Gun control is another of the issues that simmered during this year’s election while both sides did their best not to lift the lid. You can already see the posturing on both sides if you read the news accounts.

“Not the time to be talking about gun control.”

“Oh, yeah, guess what? Now’s the time. We’re marching.”

Whether after the fact we want to be talking about gun control or not, when I heard the news on NPR I got the chills. We’ve just spent a year of gutter sniping, twisted facts, and political assassinations that turn the stomach of all good and reasonable people. And now this.

The murder of innocent children in a school right before Christmas is the most tragic thing I can think of. My heart goes out to all the families connected to this incident. I think how much I love my sons and how much I loved their innocence and childlike wonder when they were in elementary school.

If there is to be a face off against the NRA and their inability to understand the humanity of these types of situations, I hope those involved will keep the beauty of all children and the power of love for those now grieving at the front of whatever deliberations that arise.

Love your children tonight. Love other people’s children. Keep every little one in your heart this season. That’s what it’s all about.

Remember that the world we are building is for these children. It’s not about us. That’s the great lesson of parenthood and it needs to be adhered to now more than ever.