In My Opinion
Like most of the world, I heard the news of the school shooting in Nashville and grieved for all of the families whose lives have been changed forever.
I grieve for the families of Mike, Katherine, and Cynthia. Their lives touched their families, as well as every family in the school. There has been a huge hole ripped into the heart of Covenant School, one that will never quite be repaired.
An even bigger hole has been torn into the hearts of the families who lost their children. These young lives were cut short, way too short, by violence that should never be part of young lives. I grieve with these families as they will face holidays, birthdays, and celebrations with an empty chair at the table. I grieve for these families that will miss out on the milestones of graduations, proms, first cars, first loves, and all the celebrations that accompany becoming an adult.
I grieve for the families of all the students, teachers, and staff that were touched by a person bent on violence. Their innocence of happy days at school has been taken from them. Each day they walk into a school building has the potential of bringing back the minutes of terror they faced.
I grieve for the police officers who were forced to take a life, no matter how justified. Only the most callous of individuals are not impacted by violently ending a life.
I grieve for the shooter who felt the only way to cope with life would be to take other’s lives.
Much has been said about the shooter, even more about gun laws in recent days. These are good conversations and ones that need to happen, however, in my opinion. . .
The violence in Nashville is not about the shooter or guns; it is about a lack of respect for life.
It seems as if all of society has lost respect for life.
I see this acted out on our roadways as road rage turns ordinary people into torpedoes bent to destroy. I witness it in the increased numbers of assaults, especially on the most vulnerable of our society. I see it in the way conversations escalate into arguments, and arguments into violence when two opposing sides meet. I see this disregard for life in the ever present, persistent, and pervasive bullying that destroys and divides both children and adults. It is almost as if the default setting for interaction with someone whose views are different is bullying.
In my opinion, I see this lack of respect for life starting with the most vulnerable of all lives – the unborn. When it was decided that an unborn life had no protection, it cheapened all lives.
After years of declaring unborn children could be disposed of, it was only natural that some would want to terminate an elderly life, declaring the life had no quality.
Once the unborn and the elderly lives were judged as being worthy of being terminated, it wasn’t much of a stretch to witness the increased number of murders of people of all ages.
Now we live in a world when lives are taken in a school shooting and the news cycles are filled with reports about the shooter’s gender and the amount of guns on the streets.
How did we get here?
In my opinion one factor out of the many that brought us to today is video games, especially video games that involve a loss of life.
Young children are entertained by racing around a track, and when they cause a fatal crash, they are given a new life. Middle school children shoot automatic weapons at bad guys and when they are killed, they get a new life. Older children get to create an avatar, becoming any gender or animal or combination of thereof they wish. These avatars are then sent out to wreak havoc on a make-believe world that looks very much like the one we live in.
The games have suspended all natural laws, morality, and respect for life. I don’t find it hard to understand that our world today has little respect for life, truth, and the absolutes of faith.
We live in a never ending, always changing video game that tears society apart as it rallies like-minded people together to stand against those that disagree.
Society should unplug and return to the real-world skills of civil debate, common courtesy, and respect for all life.
I suggest that we:
Listen first to understand.
Treat others as a dear friend.
Protect the most vulnerable lives (even with boundaries and rules).
Refuse to take offense.
Practice civility in word and deed.
Be discerning in repeating what is reported; all news reports are biased and need fact checking.
Put the best construction on everything.
As a Christian, I will also pray for my enemies, trust in God’s ways, and love all, even if I have to say “no” to a behavior.
In my opinion, we can each change our little corner of the world, one person at a time.
Richard Cohrs serves as brand ambassador for the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty.
Be Informed
Check Out Two New Surveys On Abortion And What They Mean With Dr. Michael New Of The Charlotte Lozier Institute.
Be Equipped
Lutherans are doing something big for life. They’re putting their money where their mouths are and supporting mothers and their little ones through pro-life ministries in Texas and Missouri.
Be Encouraged
“Abide in God’s Word so that we know the truth, the revealed truth. But it’s also crucial that we pursue worldly truth—grounded and informed by revealed truth, but robustly and fully engaged with the wisdom (and the foolishness) that the world has to offer. . . . So we have truth, revealed and worldly. We will know the truth and . . . what? The truth will set us free!”
