Dear America,
I am so tired and angry today, as I know a lot of you are.
Why, why, does this keep happening? I am not going to get used to mass
shootings, or any shootings, occurring every day. The President is right—no other
advanced nation in the world has this problem.
Twitter is crowded with opinions. Racism. No, mental
illness. No, terrorism. No, gun control laws.
I call bullshit. It’s all of the above, but it’s all part of
a much bigger problem. Apathy.
We live in a crazy-producing society, unique to the U.S. We
seem to accept that corporations with billions of dollars get to do whatever
they want; that the government won’t, can’t, and shouldn’t protect its
citizens; that no matter what we do, we have no power.
We are content to go buy our cheap merchandise at Walmart
without thinking about the fact that this company and the family who owns it
are raking in our money while refusing to give their employees even the tiniest
benefits. That they and other corporate greed mongers refuse to pay employees a
fair living wage. We continue to balk at paying taxes in order that folks with
legitimate mental illness can get the care and treatment they need. We allow
the government to dictate what will be taught in schools based on test scores,
rather than paying teachers what they’re worth and trusting them to do their
jobs.
All the while, we talk, and talk, and talk about how awful
this latest mass shooting is and wring our hands and pray.
I’m sick of it. We are the problem. All of us. I admit, I
enjoy a life of white privilege. But I hope I don’t allow that to lessen my
humanity and my desire to continue fighting until all people have the same
privilege.
When will we as a society put aside our short-sighted,
narrow-minded, self-serving attitudes, get off our asses, and get to WORK? I
mean the kind of work that can counteract hatred and violence. The kind of work
that involves risk, pain, sacrifice. The kind of work that is uncomfortable.
It could be any kind of work. There’s so much of it to be
done. It could involve actually going to vote on election day, even educating
yourself about the candidates and what they stand for. Don’t have time for
that? Do you have time to hang out on Twitter and debate whether this latest
shooting is about hatred or gun control? It could be actually helping out on a
campaign for a candidate who wants to fight for a higher minimum wage or the
rights of LGBT folks to be included in our human rights laws.
It doesn’t have to be politics. It could be building homes
for Habitat for Humanity. Or feeding homeless people a meal. It could be
volunteering on a suicide hotline. It could be prison ministry. Or
environmental activism. It could be neighborhood community building. The list
is never ending.
If, instead, we are content to sit on our butts watching
reality TV, complaining about big government, and holding onto our fear, then
we will continue seeing more of the same.
I’m sick of it. It would be so easy to flee to the mountains
and ignore the pain. It’s my first inclination. But we need more of us to stay
here and do the work. Get out of our little houses made of ticky tacky and
really start caring for each other. Stop debating what needs to be done. It ALL
needs to be done. Just go do it. Every shot fired, every day, should propel us
to work harder, care more, fight longer. This is OUR country. WE are the ones
who are responsible.
