#PrayersforFlorida Is Enough?
I was asked my opinion on the situation that took place on Valentine’s Day 2018. A young man named Nicholas Cruz opened fire on his former classmates at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, injuring 15 people and killing 17 more. What can one possibly say about this?
It’s time for a change. You see all of the social media postings asking for prayers for Florida and a ton of Facebook and Twitter shares referencing the tragedy. Every news station you turn on has pictures of the people who lost their lives and interviews with those whose lives have been changed forever. I was lucky enough to see some interviews with survivors of the Columbine tragedy as well, that aired last week on CNN.
With all of this in mind, I would like to say that I think thoughts and prayers and condolences can be helpful because someone who’s hurting or feels unsafe or sad could benefit.
I was once told that if someone believes in God, they must believe that we have to do God’s work here on Earth until it’s time for us to continue on our journey. Maybe all of these people coming forward and talking about their experiences and their feelings and the way that the world needs to change… Maybe this is the answer to our prayers.
Columbine, which was the aforementioned school shooting, took place on April 20th, 1999, almost 20 years ago. Before that, Brenda Spencer opened fire on an elementary school in the 1970s. There are plenty of other incidents that have taken place.
It’s obvious that nothing’s changed. I believe that everyone has a soul including people like Nicholas Cruz, Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold and Brenda Spencer. However, if a person is mentally ill, it’s been proven over and over again that they should not be allowed to have access to these kinds of weapons.
The argument that “everything is fine” isn’t working anymore; its obvious things aren’t fine. And yet we’re sitting here finding ways to blame the “other”. A book written by Brooks Brown, a friend of the Columbine shooters, states that the focus was taken off the gunman and there was more focus on them having mental health issues and criminal records instead. It states that the focus was placed on video games that the boys like to play and the music they like to listen to.
People claim that Nicholas Cruz was influenced by social media, and even blame the fact that he was a Trump supporter. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. According to a news outlet, the most recent school shooter was all over media talking about all of the things he wanted to do. He even stated that he wanted to be the next school shooter shortly before he committed this horrendous Act.
Look at the book No Easy Answers: The Truth Behind Death at Columbine written by Brooks Brown. He claims that Eric Harris was making threats against the author on his social media page. Because the internet was still in its infancy at the time, he was able to delete all of the postings before the police could retrieve them.
However, there were clear warning signs in both cases. Nicholas had been expelled from school and the school would later be claimed it was for safety reasons (CNN).
Eric and Dylan were active members in a program which was designed to steer children away from committing felonies. They were placed in this program because the pair had charges of stolen property.
These are very clear warning signs of deviant behavior, and yet both these things happened.
Why?
Maybe the answer to our prayers is people standing up and saying something is wrong with the system. Saying that people are suffering and that people who are suffering from mental illness are somehow able to carry out these acts.
My deepest sympathies go out to the victims and the crimes mentioned above as well as their families and the families of those who are responsible for ending their lives.
I do believe that the answer to our prayers lies in the people crying out for change and the people who have been affected by these things.
We need to do something. Enough is enough.
I know this is going to seem cliché and maybe even critical, but my thoughts and prayers are with the victims of these acts of violence and their families. Let’s make this world a better place, a safer place, a place that we want to live in and want future generations to live in.
Let’s do this together.