Another shooting, another community in grief. I’m not going to repeat the shooter’s name because that what people who do this stuff want. A shooter walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL and killed 17 people and injured many others.
Of the many images of the Parkland shooting that emerged, one brought tears to my eyes instantly.
The Associated Press photographer Joel Auerbach took a picture that was truly painful. I saw this picture shared on social media dozens of times on Facebook and Twitter. The photo came up on the news on television. It is being shared over and over.
Why are so many people sharing it?
An adult woman – perhaps a teacher – has a cross on her forehead from an Ash Wednesday service is holding another woman. The incredible grief, shock, and trauma are obvious. In the left background a woman, possibly a mother of a student is looking on in the distance. Her face has a look of worry and concern. In the back right, a man possibly a father of a student, checks his phone for updates. Maybe he is texting his child in the school or reading the latest information.
It’s a painful picture because it was Ash Wednesday. A day we remember our mortality and need for God’s provision. A day we remember that Lent begins a journey with Christ to Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and finally Easter. The Christian message of love, redemption, and hope was hard to embrace in Parkland, FL on February 14, 2018.
It’s painful because 17 people died and many others were injured.
It’s painful because this woman in the foreground with blonde hair and cross on her forehead didn’t expect violence to come on Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday.
It’s painful because the shooter left a digital trail of his intentions to hurt others and become a mass shooter.
It’s painful because Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School did everything professionals advise for security: visitor check-in, single point of entry, locked doors, security guards, lockdown drills, and teacher training for shooters.
It’s painful because the shooter’s home life was difficult and was receiving mental health care.
It’s painful because the shooter, a white male, fits the pattern of mass shooters. White men make up the majority of mass shootings 1984. And yet, white men make up the majority of our of Congress. Our elected leaders have done very little to address reasonable gun control measures.
It’s painful because reasonable gun control measures are supported by 60% of Americans.
It’s painful because President Trump ended gun check measures for those with mental illness.
It’s painful that AR-15 assault rifles have recently become the weapon of choice for mass shooters.
It’s painful because “compassion fatigue” has become the norm on social media and in our personal lives.
It’s painful because “thoughts and prayers” are not enough.
It’s painful because there is a school and community in mourning and grief. We share a part of that grief.
It’s painful because America is emotionally spent with violence.
It’s painful that this problem of violence on a grand scale requires individual, community, intuitional, societal, political, and national change.
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