Hide and Speak

It gets political. Always. The opposing sides who simply want to argue and blame someone else rarely results in a solution. We need change. Without the conflict. Maybe it’s about gun control. Maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s about mental illness. Maybe it’s not. I’m not here to take those sides. Or force my opinion. I’m here for the parent who lost a child. For the one who lost a spouse. Their brother. Their sister. Their coach. Their teacher. Their friend. I’m here for the victims and their beloved. I’m here to say it’s about the people.

Somehow we’ve let hatred take control and abolished all accountability in our human race. We have let countless lives be taken. And we’re allowing our children to grow up in a state of fear. If our society can’t turn itself around then we are failing in this whole thing called life. FAILING.

The fact that a mass shooting in our country seems to occur almost monthly is sickening. I’m outraged. I’m horrified. I’m heartbroken. And I’m down on my knees pleading with the God that I know, begging Him to do something. But this is what I hear; I am hearing that our society has allowed hatred and evil to be the focus. And those both breed a harmful spirit and a very ugly mind. The selfish become stronger and the destructive are more deliberate. And all the individuals who still believe in honesty, goodness, kindness and love are slowly retreating and finding refuge behind closed doors. Because that’s what fear does. It drives us away. Our God sees this and it hurts Him more than it hurts us. But we fear speaking out. We fear public prayer. We fear disagreement. We fear conflict. And we fear anything that requires us to step outside our comfort zone. So then we’re left with a country [and a world] that’s being led only by those who are in it for personal gains, not people gains. And then bad things happen, fingers get pointed and no one commits to making a change. So the violent cycle repeats itself. And the intolerance grows.

We must stop fixating on the finite. We’re not limited to change! I don’t believe for one second that it has to be this hard. Our children deserve better. I deserve better. You deserve better. WE ALL DESERVE BETTER.

If you believe the issue is gun control, then rally with your local leaders and voice your concerns until they’re heard. If you believe the issue is mental illness, then rally with a non-profit alliance or organization that supports access and treatment. If you believe the issue is something else, then rally! Collaborate! Speak up! Anything other than hide. Hiding is easy. I get that. Some days that’s all I want to do. But that means we’ve surrendered. And then we let fear, hate and evil win. And that’s not how the story ends.  In case you haven’t read it all, keep reading.

Because [God’s] LOVE WINS.