No more ‘thoughts and prayers’ — it’s time for action

School shootings can’t become our new ‘normal’

This week, there was yet another school shooting, one that took 17 lives on Valentine’s Day in a Florida community.

I had the usual thoughts — deep sadness for the families, shock as the details unfolded, and a sense of frustration that once again, such a horrible situation was in the headlines. News hurts sometimes, and this was one of the worst.

I went home, I hugged my family, and we had our Valentine’s Day celebrations, but something felt off. And I realized later that night the problem: I’m angry. And “angry” really isn’t the right word. Furious. Fuming. Livid. Incensed. Enraged. Any and all apply.

I’m tired of asking why this keeps happening, of having “the usual thoughts,” so ingrained now.

I’m frustrated that the issue of preventing future tragedies has become a political hot potato, bouncing from hand to hand before dropping to floor, still simmering, without any resolution.

How dare our politicians stand there and express their sadness, giving their “thoughts and prayers” to these families, and not take any action whatsoever to prevent future tragedies?

Take your political perspectives — Democrat, Republican, whatever — and set them aside. Round up the lobbyists, and show them the door. And then sit down at the table and work toward solutions that benefit our children, because it is the right thing to do, not because of pressure from the right, the left or the lobbyists.

The blame, however, doesn’t sit solely on the shoulders of the politicians. It also falls to communities and families, for letting children fall through the cracks, for not connecting with the disenfranchised or recognizing when our children need help. We’ve failed to make mental health care accessible in every community, with a massive social stigma and financial roadblocks for many to truly getting the necessary care and treatment.

Be human, for just a moment, and recognize that our nation is failing at the most basic level: protecting our children.

It’s as if we are living in a new circle of purgatory: there’s a mass shooting, and everyone offers up their thoughts and prayers, a debate percolates on the subject, nothing is actually accomplished, people start to forget, and whoops … here were are again, with another mass shooting.

Enough. School shootings can’t become our new normal. It’s time to break that cycle, reach deep into our humanity, and find solutions.

Our children are depending on us.

DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS OR NOT?