Picture this: You’re walking hand-in-hand with your kindergartener into his classroom to chaperone mass. You’re not late, but you’re cutting it close because he gets very distracted while getting dressed.
You stand by as the teacher calls out their names to line up. Of course, she has to repeat it 10 times because kindergartners are notoriously bad listeners.
Next, you walk with the class to the church. It’s like herding cats. “Don’t walk on the rocks. Pay attention. Hurry up.”
Eventually, everyone ends up in church and takes their seats in the front rows. The whole school sings the opening song in their sweet angel voices. The priest says Mass as the kindergarteners wiggle all around. Then it’s time to herd them all back to their classrooms.
That’s how it’s supposed to go anyway. I did that routine almost weekly, and the worst thing that happened was having to shush a few chatty children. But that wasn’t what happened in Minnesota, where two children were murdered in the middle of mass.
I can vividly picture the scene unfolding as a shooter fires into the church—kindergarteners hiding under pews. Children are trying to shield each other. Kids are desperately searching for their siblings.
One Minnesota 5th grader was shot in the back while lying on top of his friend to protect him. Why are children needing to use themselves as shields at all? Let alone in church… at school.
The picture of the shoeless mom running towards the school cracked our hearts open. We can only imagine her panic and fear. Another mom was working as a nurse when her daughter was brought into the hospital wounded… during church… at school — what should be two of the safest places on the planet.
Horrific.
A Question We Shouldn’t Have to Ask
Then I wonder, what if I had been impatient or grumpy when I dropped my son off at school, and that was the last thing I said to him?
Every school morning can’t be joyful and loving. There are millions of different stressors we and our kids face each day. We have bad days; our kids have bad days. Yet, we are burdened with the impossible task of being a perfect, loving parent every single morning, just in case they don’t come home from school.
My son and I fight a lot as we get ready because he is the slowest person on earth (I love you, buddy, but seriously). He gets mad that I’m telling him to hurry. I get mad that he won’t just get dressed already. I try to make sure we resolve things before he leaves — just in case. But sometimes it doesn’t happen, and I spend the whole day with a knot in my stomach, literally praying he comes home.
It’s not fair that we have to drop our precious children off every day, wondering if today is the day. We should be able to have an off morning without that being our last memory.
The Indianapolis Moms blog has too many articles about coping with school shootings. These atrocities happen so often that it’s easy to get desensitized in our struggle to survive.
Echoing the call of the internet: I need Cracker Barrel logo-level outrage over school shootings. If we can get that upset about a marketing change, why can’t we care half as much for children’s lives?
Politicians Are Failing Children
Obviously, mass shootings are a complex societal issue with no easy answers. But someone is taking some action, right?
Many point to mental health as the source of these tragedies. Let’s go with this idea for a second. If this is the case (it’s not), we should address this issue to save our children, right? Well, many new policies are actually making mental health care harder to access. (BTW, the FBI found that only 25% of mass shooters had a diagnosed mental illness.)
So, if we can’t stop the source, let’s improve prevention strategies. Oh, wait. The government recently cut federal funding for a Minnesota program aimed at doing just that. Efforts are underway in several states, including Indiana, to overturn or weaken red flag laws, which permit a state court to temporarily seize firearms from a person they believe may present a danger.
Ok, so we can’t universally treat mental illness or identify individuals who might perpetrate atrocities. So what’s the solution?
Hear me out: Mentally ill shooters (or any shooter) would do a lot less damage if they didn’t have a rapid-firing weapon of war.
I’m not saying we ban guns. Like many others, I’m merely advocating for a ban on assault rifles. There’s no reason an average citizen needs one of these.
Politicians have taken numerous legislative actions to ban various items, including DEI programs and the use of pronouns in signatures, among others. So why can’t we ban citizens from owning a military weapon? It seems pretty straightforward. We did it once from 1994 to 2004, but that has long since expired.
Make it make sense!
Where do we go from here?
I know we are devastated, panicked, and likely feeling hopeless. What can we do?
We can’t let the outrage overwhelm us. Anger paralyzes us and contributes to more problems. We must turn our righteous fury into positive efforts.
At the Sunday Mass I attended after the shooting, the priest discussed how we can move forward after this tragedy. His message: Start with loving the person in front of you. This means teaching your children to care about others, volunteering to help those struggling, or just being kind in general.
While this isn’t a miracle solution, how we treat others is something we can control. And love for your neighbor and community can actually address many of the root issues of gun violence, such as poverty, isolation, and anger.
The solution is not easy, and it’s not dramatic, but imagine what could happen if we were all kind.
If you’re feeling called to take an active role in the effort to stop school shootings, here are a few organizations to check out:
The world is a scary place right now, especially for mothers. We must support each other, work together, and be a positive force in our community.
P.S. A note about prayer: Some people might wonder, ‘This tragedy happened while they were praying, so what’s the point of prayer?’ For authentic Christians, prayer is about helping us endure the hardness of the world, not protecting us from it. We believe prayers do make a difference, just not in the way the world might expect. If praying is your thing, keep doing it. But also live that love in your lives as well.
