Shellys commentary: Beyond thoughts and prayers
The name of Linda’s school was St. John’s Lutheran School, grades 1-9. It was located a block off Broadway, not far from downtown Denver. She walked to school with no thoughts about danger waiting for her at school. The school had “duck and cover” drills in response to fears of a nuclear bomb threat, but no one ever dreamed of active shooter drills. In many ways, St. John’s was probably much like Covenant, yet so different.
On March 28th we turned on the television and saw the horrific, breaking news that six more human beings – three nine-year olds and three persons in their 60s – had been murdered at Covenant Presbyterian School in Nashville. Like all the other times, it began as an ordinary day until it wasn’t. There have been 13 school shootings this year that have forever changed the survivors’ lives. Each event further erodes the moral character of this nation, a nation that appears to value its guns more than the lives of its children. Each time people have extended their “thoughts and prayers” to the survivors. It may have been all they knew to do or say, but at some point, survivors become numb to those words.
School shootings are about our children – the very youngest to those in college. All across this country there are families having “the talk” with their children about the realities of school shootings. The 4-year-old tells her mommy that today they had a “lock-down drill.” The middle schooler is afraid to return to school. A sibling cries, “I don’t want to be an only child.” The high schooler loses her best friend. A college student has survived her second school shooting. Those are real life experiences. This vocabulary that should not exist for children. No parent should ever have their child shot to death while at school.
The morning of the 29th, we listened to Chaplain Barry C. Black, Senate Chaplain since 2003. He came to the floor of the Senate with a heavy heart, because his task was to pray under heartbreaking circumstances — again. He knew what he needed to say. “Eternal God, we stand in awe of you. Lord, when babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond thoughts and prayers. Remind our lawmakers of the words of the British Statesman, Edmund Burke: ‘All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.’” He said, “Lord, deliver our senators from the paralysis of analysis that waits for the miraculous. Use them to battle the demonic forces that seek to engulf us.” Here was a man of faith, a leader, who told his listeners that people must “move beyond thoughts and prayers.”
Chaplain Black told the unvarnished truth - the act of prayer must include a commitment to some action. If the next step — action — does not follow, that prayer is simply words, however well intentioned. If we are mired in the “paralysis of analysis that waits for the miraculous,” that is where we will forever stay, just waiting. It doesn’t have to be that way. It is within our power to experience the “miraculous,” but it requires that enough of us believe we have the power to create change. The Chaplain’s statement provides hope IF we have the will to act. We can’t let our future be one of just waiting for the “miraculous” to happen.
We have had years of paralyzed inaction in the Congress with the Second Amendment playing a major part in the Republican response. There have been rare occasions of bipartisan legislative success. We have become experts in blame, diversion, hyperbole, and simplification. The issue of gun violence is a complex issue, but that can be no excuse for being immobilized in the “paralysis of analysis.” We will never experience the “miraculous” until we stop putting up obstacles. What if we believed that the “miraculous” is what can happen when the power of prayer joins forces with the power that comes with a commitment to action and change?
No more “paralysis of analysis.” No more just waiting for the next mass school shooting. The moral fiber of this country must not allow for it. It is imperative that we join those, who have made it their life’s work to fight for change. Now is the time to move beyond “thoughts and prayers” toward the “miraculous” possibility of our children being safe at their school. You say, “Impossible,” but we have chosen to believe in miracles.
Walter Shelly retired after 40 years as a professor of political science at West Texas A&M University. Linda Shelly retired after 33 years of teaching sociology at West Texas A&M University and Amarillo College.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Shellys commentary: Beyond thoughts and prayers
