When I woke up and heard of the horrors that took place in Las Vegas, I was heartsick. My first thought was "How could something like this happen?"
My second was a prayer for the victims and their families.
My third was "What excuses will people make this time?"
I dreaded going onto any social media sites because I was afraid that, among the heartfelt prayers and acknowledgements of the tragedy, I would also see excuses being made, accusations being thrown, and a side-stepping of the issues underlying this terrible event.
Or worse, I'd see nothing. I'd see that we, as a society, have given up.
We need better gun control, and greater support for the mentally ill in this country. That's it, the end. I don't want to get into arguments with anyone about this right now. Those facts are not the point of this post. Those discussions...those arguments...will be had over and over again in the coming weeks, I'm sure, just as they've been had over and over again following every mass shooting that has happened in this country.
There's a bigger problem, though, that I want to focus on because it's one that no one talks about. I think it's because no one wants to put a spotlight on it and highlight one of our greatest shames.
It's us. It's we, the people.
It's the society we've allowed to build up around us. The awful things we've normalized for ourselves.
It's our lack of empathy.
Our lack of reason.
Our lack of compassion.
Our lack of recognition that the world does not revolve around us.
We are selfish. We are bullies. We value our own privileges and comforts far more than the lives and well-beings of others.
You might be reading this and thinking, "That's not me! I care!" And I have no doubt that you do.
Individually, most of us aren't terrible people. Most of us are good, loving, and just want the world to be a better place.
But have you ever avoided a conversation about gun control because it made you uncomfortable, or you didn't want to get "too political"? Have you ever voted for someone you know has cut or plans to cut mental health services or support programs for the poor and disabled? Have you ever hidden behind the words "We can't know God's plan" because it takes the responsibility to create change out of your own hands?
We might not think our actions and reservations have much effect on an individual level, but we don't exist in a vacuum. We impact the way our society is shaped, even the things we don't say or do leave a mark, and our society reproduces the values and norms we feed into it.
What do the values and norms we see within our society say about us as a people?
As a whole we're broken. As a collective, as a nation, we've created a society where this kind of tragedy is allowed to happen...and not just once.
It's allowed to happen again...and again...and again...
Las Vegas may be the deadliest, but it's not an anomaly. Mass shootings have became a part of the cultural landscape of this country...and it's our own fault.
We don't care enough. Not as a whole. If we as a nation truly wanted to stop these tragedies from happening, we'd figure out a way to do it. We'd come together...we'd work together. We'd stop making excuses and actually do something.
The facts are we need more sensible gun control and greater support and care for the mentally ill.
But we also need more compassion.
More reason.
More empathy.
We need to see that this isn't an individual issue. This isn't about us on a personal level, but about all of us together. We need to recognize the broken society we've erected around ourselves and how deadly it's become.
These types of horrors will continue to plague us until we recognize that we, as a whole, need to step back and look at how we are systemically failing. As individuals, we can send prayers, we can work to change laws, or keep them the same, but if we can't figure out how to work together...how to hold each other up rather than tearing each other down over and over again, nothing's going to get better.
We have a major problem in this country...we simply don't care.
This isn't how I originally intended this post to go. I wanted to offer a prayer, some words of comfort for those struggling to wrap their minds around Las Vegas, but then I realized I'd said it all before. I'd prayed it all before. That doesn't mean I'll stop praying. I will pray that the victims and families are able to find some comfort and hope in God, or whatever they maintain gives them life and purpose. I'll continue to pray for this nation in a desperate hope that we figure it out and are able to heal ourselves. I don't want to hide behind those prayers, though. I don't want to say I've offered them, and then think I've somehow done my part. I don't want people to just speak some nice words that give more comfort to the ones saying them than the actual victims and think that's enough. More than prayers, right now we need a reality check. We need to recognize this kind of thing isn't just going to go away, or that because we have not been personally affected that we can just easily forget it and go on with our lives.
Tragedies like Las Vegas will only keep happening until we as a collective come together and say "enough"...and actually mean it.
We have to refuse to let this be a norm in our society. We have to refuse to let ourselves grow numb to it.
Until that day comes, until we can see beyond our own tiny worlds and understand that we're part of something bigger than ourselves, that we should care about something other than ourselves, nothing will change. Nothing will get better. It will only be more of the same.
Pray for Las Vegas. Pray for our nation. But then actually do something to make it better.
Amen.
Erin B.
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