We are divided in our united cry of anguish. How can this violence be stopped? Clearly legislation must be changed. No, it has nothing to do with the 2nd Amendment; it's a mental health issue. How can God let this happen? We're a culture fixated with violent movies and video games. It's a result of divorce and absentee parents. It's bullying in school. It's autism.
It's your fault, not mine.
We can't even honor the fallen without taking a position on what heroism means or defend our duty to vote or uphold the right to bear arms. We argue our righteous positions until, at best, we ultimately agree to disagree. In the end, we merely pretend that contempt is a benevolent response, but nothing is gained, no understanding is reached, no grief is assuaged.
Perhaps contempt is the evil that most needs to be exposed in light of this tragedy. Perhaps the very violence we rebuke is perpetuated by every angry word spoken, every hateful diatribe written, every finger pointed in blame, every self-serving act justified, every injustice upheld, every atrocity unforgiven. My soul mourns for the lives shattered by this tragedy, but my heart breaks even more at the hatred and contempt cultivated in its aftermath.
“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
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