Turning this difficult tide goes beyond gun regulation
If you want deaths by gun to stop, you should ban guns. Period. Correct? This is easy to believe if you are witness to the emotional coverage we are being bombarded with right now.
According to Peggy Noonan, a nationally syndicated columnist, there is something different in society right now that is triggering many of the problems we face. Whatever it is, it’s in “the air we breathe.” It is not as simple as saying that we need more gun control and expecting shooting to stop; or saying that we need more legislation and expecting everything to be right with our economy, workforce and families. No; the problems are deeper and systemic. We, society, have created them and we, society, must now fix them.
What does that mean? Who does that involve? If you ever want to give yourself an excuse for reflection, then try running for Congress. As a candidate, I find myself reflecting continuously on the multitude of problems that people face — mostly because I must understand how to solve them. Isn’t that what a representative of the people is supposed to do? So, I study, ask questions, listen and ponder.
We cannot legislate our way out of this mess. According to William Strauss’ and Neil Howethe’s prophetic book, The Fourth Turning, “To fix crime we have to fix the family, but before we do that we have to fix welfare, and that means fixing our budget, and that means fixing our civic spirit, but we can’t do that without fixing our moral standards, and that means fixing schools and churches, and that means fixing the inner cities, and that’s impossible unless we fix crime.” The answer, then, to my question about the role a representative is not that he must solve our problems; rather, he must provide leadership to those who would solve their own.
People are not stupid; they do not need to be controlled, and they certainly do not need more legislation. They need the ability to provide for themselves and their families, and to contribute to their communities. An effective representative of the people is a facilitator of selfsufficiency and the creation of pathways that people can follow to help each other. The strength of character and integrity that are nurtured by providing for one’s self and family are long-lasting. That well-known idiom, “Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” bears a second thought. You feed him forever by not feeding him directly at all — but by empowering him to feed himself.
A Quaker proverb of equal importance declares, “Thee lift me and I’ll lift thee, and we’ll ascend together.” At the end of the day, our communities will have to solve the problems that we face; nobody else can, or should, do it for us. We will have emerged from our crisis when people no longer think it all right to express their frustrations through violence; their pain is recognized by their community, they are listened to, and they are guided or helped as necessary. People are crying out to be heard, and we must listen. To do this, we must first assume personal responsibility for ourselves, provide leadership for our families and engage our communities. Then, and only then, will we turn this difficult tide.