Let's start this column with a little disclaimer. This is not going to be a piece about gun control.
We have all seen where that argument goes time and time again and I don't feel like writing about something that is just going to irritate most of our readers. I am also not capitalizing on this recent tragedy in Florida. While some believe that discussion on prevention should be halted until "an appropriate amount of time has passed," I don't subscribe to that belief.
I'm also not writing about this simply to stir up arguments (which quickly turn into belittlement from both sides) between the left and the right. I'm writing because 17 people are dead because of another mass shooting.
It is time for Americans to wake up and do something about this and if gun control is not the answer, then we need to find out what is before this happens again.
If we can meet on common ground I'd like to provoke honest and intelligent discussion on what we can do to stop heinous acts like the one earlier this week from ever happening again. If guns are not the issue of why we have so many mass shootings then what is? I don't ask that question rhetorically or with any hint of sarcasm.
My concern is genuine. We aren't ever going to get anywhere if we keep arguing the same talking points every time this happens. The right and the left have to sit down and figure out how to make this stop.
Let's start with discussing something that will not work…inaction. We cannot simply sit on our hands and repeat phrases like, "It's terrible, but there is just nothing we can do," or "My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."
I know that some people are going to disagree with me on this part, but "thoughts and prayers" are exactly the same as inaction. If all people do is think about how horrible these shootings are and don't do anything to keep them from happening, then the thoughts were useless. As far as prayers go, while I do understand the kindness in the gesture, I believe (and I think most people agree) that when you pray for something God answers by acting through people.
There is an adage about a man who lived by the river. The story goes that a man hears a radio report that a flood is coming and that all residents should leave, but the man stays because he believes that God will save him.
After the flooding starts someone in a boat passes by the man's house and offers to take him to safety, but again he states that God will save him. Later when the flooding is worse a helicopter comes to save the man, but again he refuses rescue because he believes God will save him. The man drowns and when he gets to heaven he asks to speak with God. He asks God why he did not save him. God replies, "I sent a radio report, a boat and a helicopter. Why are you here?"
The point I'm trying to make is that we have been given the intelligence and the capabilities to change (or at least attempt to change) our situation and we continue to drown.
Some of you might say, "Well, we shouldn't worry about it too much. Nothing like that will ever happen here."
Really? If anyone still believes that I have a challenge for you, get in contact with the parents of a victim of this last shooting and ask them if they ever thought this would happen. More often than not you cannot see these things coming or you just don't want to.
My wife is a teacher at Blytheville Middle School. My mother is a teacher at Manila High School. When I hear about these shootings I become terrified. Terrified that one day I'm going to be sitting here at my desk and find out that the thing that "could never happen here" has happened here.
The focusing point of the conversation that we have after shootings shouldn't be about taking time for respect or gun rights or mental health or family values. I've heard all that before.
The conversation we need to be having is how we stop turning on the news to hear about children, adults, Americans that have been innocently slaughtered in masses again.
So, what do we do? Well, to be honest, I don't exactly know and I'd be willing to bet about 90 percent of those reading don't know either.
This is a complicated issue rooted in controversy and it seems like every time we talk about it with someone who differs in opinion our immediate reaction is to start name-calling and criticizing rather than reach any mutual agreement or resolution. That has to end.
We need to stand up and say that our children's lives come before anything else and start from there. We have to be able to talk about things that we disagree with and make counterpoint without resulting to insults. We have to be able to compromise and hear the other side of the argument. And above all else, we HAVE to do something.
Our country is very divided right now and has been for a while. We disagree a lot, in fact, it seems like sometimes we actively search for something to disagree on. I don't think that anyone disagrees that our children need to stop dying in mass shootings.
The only way we can stop it is if we make a change because we've seen what no change has gotten us.
I want to see America overcome this problem. It's up to us, the American public, to do it.
If you would like to share your thoughts with me, you can contact me at the email listed below.
If you have any suggestions or ideas I would love to hear them.
gwilliams@blythevillecourier.com