A Call To My Brothers and Sisters: Reflections on Connecticut Shooting (Guest Post)

This blog is composed of the thoughts of my awesome fiancee, Ms. Candice Youngblood. I am going to have to have her guest write more often! Her thoughts are profound and I could not have said it better myself.

I don’t frequently comment on current events.  Today however, my silence was not a chosen thing.  Instead, my grief forced it upon me for quite some time.  There were no words I could even dare to think. . . .Horrific.  Unspeakable. Abhorrent.  Those were probably the only three words that circulated in my brain while tears spilled over my eyes as I read about the terror in Connecticut.

Looking over the images of grief stricken people, my insides twisted into a knot, and I felt a couple of times as if I might vomit.  I considered then how much anguish must be tormenting the people of Newtown.  If this was my response to mere images and news articles, what kind of pain must be present for those that are actually experiencing it in person?

My thoughts led me to a series of “Why would . . .?”  “How could . . .?”  “Shouldn’t we . . .?”  There are many emotions surging through my soul right now, but the one that rings loud and clear is anger.  It’s not the kind of violent anger that may have led to the horrifying deeds committed today, but it’s the kind of anger that cries out for justice, for retribution.

Spinning through the questions in my mind were reminders.  Reminders of other recent shootings.  Reminders of the terrors that people in other countries experience every day.  Reminders of attacks like those on the trade center.  I realized today that when foreign terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, our country for the most part banded together.  Our response was to declare war.

So what should be our response, when our own citizens commit such vicious atrocities?  How could we possibly proceed with “business as usual”?  We cannot.

Many people are already throwing out their solutions to end such evil: stricter gun laws, more education, less government control, more government control, better security in schools, elimination of public school, and the list goes on.

While I’m hesitant to even try to comment on it myself, there is one clear thought ringing through my mind—the evil inclinations of mankind cannot be concealed by quaint suburban housing, homey small towns, progressive mature thinking, money or education, capitalism or socialism, changes in economic status, or even . . . the American flag itself.

This is not a criticism of America.  This is a dire diagnosis.  The appalling events of today do not tell us that what we need are tougher gun laws, more economic relief, or any other social or political reforms.  The shocking events of the past year tell us that America (by that I mean her citizens as a whole) is deathly sick.

Perhaps things such as our debilitating economic struggles are not the problem.  Perhaps our economic struggles are merely a symptom of an underlying fatal illness.  We are distracted from the illness by some of the most piercing symptoms–acute pain like the events of today, and of earlier this year–chronic pain like that of the last decade.  We think the symptoms are the disease, but we are misled.

We find in this sense that diseases such as ours do not discriminate between third world countries and first world countries.  We are reminded that the evils that ravage the children of Africa can even reach the children of America.  The difference is that places like Africa have suffered far longer and on a much greater scale than we have experienced.

Do not think that I am downplaying the suffering of our own people.  The pain of losing a child is no more harsh in an impoverished Ugandan parent than a middle class American parent.  We are all in pain over the evils that plague humanity.

People often assume that America has created a place of safety and prosperity.  “Things like that just don’t happen here.”  We are seeing more and more that this is just an illusion.  Some parents may want to keep their children home from school now.  I know I very well might have—and I’m a teacher.  The reality is that our schools are not the problem.  Safety is not guaranteed to us at school, at the mall, in the theater, in a government building, or even in our own home.

I must say that I cringe at the thought that such acts are like a barometer of our nation’s standing with God.  Check history and see that suffering has swept over many regardless of devotion or right standing with the Lord.  Before you find yourself sitting with the friends of Job in judgmental declarations of Lady Liberty and her “obvious fall from righteousness”, consider tearing your clothes and putting on sack cloth and ash to mourn with our fellow men that are distraught with grief.

There may be many citizens that would object to my next call to turn Heavenward and seek answers from the Lord.  Any mention of Christ’s name would remind them of the ungodly acts of those who claim to be part of His faith.  Many would object because of the misrepresentation and suffering experienced at the hands of those who claim to be lovers and believers in Christ.  My call is not to them.  My only words to the victims of religious frauds are that such acts are not those of a true follower of Christ.

My call is to those of us that consider ourselves religious.  It’s time to wake up from the fog.  Do not allow yourselves to be deceived.  Enter your day with a sober and alert mind, diligently seeking the meaning of the Scriptures–the purpose in this being that you are reminded that WE are the ambassadors, the images, the living representation of the saving Word of God.  Reach out to the people of Connecticut with love and support, send money, send resources, send love in whatever manifestations you can muster.  Our responses as children of God will vary in this tragedy, but they should all have one thing in common:  the LOVE of Christ will respond rightly to the EVILS of men.