Grieving over things we shouldn’t have to

Oh God, it’s a terribly broken world. We are experiencing way too many terrible mass shootings in recent months. Truly, even one is too many. But when we are seeing and reading about several of them in the news, as if it were a regular yet random occurrence, something has gone terribly wrong.

Some identify the problem as the availability of guns. Some say the problem with the shooter’s evilness or abhorrent ideas. Some say it is the systemic problem of social inequalities. Some say the problem is insufficient security measures.

We can all agree that mass shootings are terribly wrong and horrific. Where people differ is pinpointing the problem and arriving at the solution or solutions. In the volatile American environment today, it’s practically impossible to come up with a solution that will be acceptable by a majority, even a simple 50.1% majority. And, if it were up to the government to enforce its laws and ban all guns from public ownership and usage, well, history has also shown us that governments can be corrupt and evil too.

The American situation is boiling over. The progress of our so-called enlightened human condition in 2018 is revealing how our humanity is really not all that enlightened after all. We’ve got some fancier progressive ideas, but the ugliness of racism, classism, injustices, greed, jealousy, immorality, what have you, is still all over the place.

Big evil, small evil

Oh Lord have mercy on us people. There is evilness in our hearts and minds, in my heart and mind, I confess. And to be fair, some other expressions of that evil have bigger and bloodier consequences on others. Any expression of evil, of any kind, then, hurts people and hurts myself too. We are in desperate need of help. I have inadvertently said things that hurt people, unintentionally maybe, but it still hurt. I’m sorry. I don’t know how to fix it. Forgive me.

Doing What We Can with What We Got

The geopolitical and economic layers of complexity of the evils in mass shootings and in each human heart, it’s too much for any one solution to resolve and remedy. Of course this doesn’t mean doing nothing and taking it as fate. On the one hand, participating as a good citizen in contributing good and keeping our own heart constrained in a healthy way, is what we can do, at the least.

Also, the true reality of life is that none of us are guaranteed another day, even if we are in full health and living in a safe neighborhood. Death is a certain reality. My countdown clock of life is running down and I don’t know how much is left. I am learning how to live humbly with what time and energy I have. Help me God to live well with every breath and every moment. Let me desire the good things of life and not settle for the cheap imitations of shortcuts, cheats, and indulgences.