DO NOT LET USA OFF THE HOOK.

               

Last week, Tuesday, May 24, America experienced its twenty-first most serious mass killing.

The massacre happened in an elementary Texas school. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in this attack. At the end of the forty minutes the eighteen year old shooter was also shot and killed.

 

Countless Americans joined in the lament with sympathy and sincere prayers. Vigils were held to honored the victims. 

 

In this reflection we want to stand in solidarity with every person, their families and their country that suffers death and injury from a gun.

 

Do not allow our anger and grief to stop with the victims. All societies are living organisms. They function very well with their own values and approaches to life. Societies differ from one another. A society that is a hunter-gather society (which embraces most of the history of humanity) is very different form a highly organized and technological society such as ours. Societies have a personality and must be held to be responsible for what happens or what they allow to happen within their borders.

 

Do not hesitate to ask why in America the most common cause of death for a person under twenty years of age is by a gun. This rate of death is higher than death by traffic accidents for the under-twenties. Does this not tell us something?

 

We must confront the American society with the facts that countries such as the British Isles, France, Canada do not have as many mass shootings as America. When you put the totals together, if you live in the USA you have a twenty-six more chance to be caught in a mass shooting than if you lived in any of the other mentioned counties.

 

We know that among human beings that wherever there are guns humans will grab the most powerful tool to settle the scores when they differ with other human beings. This is settling our differences at the end of a gun. Weapons provide much greater opportunity for violence.

 

Ask all Americans, why do you have a country like Britain (not a small country), where the social functioning allows that “there are so many situations where the police do not carry a gun?” In light of the British situation, why is the violence happening in your country?

 

We in Canada need not stand in righteous anger. We too have our mass shootings, although they are much lower in numbers than in the USA. But Australia has a lower number of mass shootings compared to Canada. Australians can ask Canadians ‘why we have many mass shooting.’

 

It is not good enough to shake our heads in resignation. The evil of mass shootings need and must spur us on towards working for a more respectful and caring society. We must care about our fellow citizen’s desire to respect and promoting the well-being of every other citizen.

The unbelievable evil of killing school children in a classroom challenges all of us to work to build a society of peace, justice and respect. The evil of this mass shooting must never have the last word.