The editors predictably decided the big news attention getter is guns cause death. Certainly, multiple deaths by guns are a terrible thing. However, the story is not about guns. It is about young people dying at higher rates. Why? Unfortunately, the authors don't really offer any concrete answers.
I will tell you what I believe.
I have read that recent polls show a significant decline in the number of people who identify themselves as religious. More are saying they are "spiritual" rather than religious. Religion has taken on a negative meaning. Spiritual is freer. Less confined.
Personally, I identify myself as both religious and spiritual.
I am a member of the Roman Catholic Church. I accept and believe the teachings of the Church. This is not blind faith. I have studied the teachings and I believe and accept them.
I am also spiritual. Just like every individual on earth I have both a material body and a spiritual soul.
My body will die, but my spirit will exist for eternity. I have to nurture both my body and my spirit. My body has grown and developed from conception to the present and will continue to develop until I die. I have to care for my body. It needs nourishment, exercise and sometimes medical care. I need to acquire knowledge to enable me to live among others and care for my body.
My soul, my spirit, also needs to grow and develop. It needs nourishment, exercise, care and knowledge.
My parents, family, teachers and friends have helped my physical nature to grow, to live, to survive. All of those things have also helped my spiritual nature to live, grow and survive. In addition, my religious beliefs and the sacraments I receive through my Church, my religion, help my soul to live, grow and survive, not just for now in time, but for all eternity.
Our souls are eternal. When our body dies our soul continues. Religion helps me to develop my soul, my beliefs, my understanding, my values. It prepares me for life now and after death.
I believe in spirits who have never had a body. There are both good spirits, called angels, and evil spirits, called demons. Evil exists separate from what we see. Certainly mass killings are evil. The act is evil. But Evil exists for the purpose of creating acts of evil. He exists solely to defeat and destroy Good.
It appears our society is focused on the self. I exist to gratify myself. Getting married and having children is not high on the survey lists for young people. We don't see the need for others in our lives. Community is not seen as necessary for a healthy life.
Our schools do not appear to be nurturing our children. Many of our colleges and universities do not allow freedom of speech or expression including religious expression. If religion no longer plays a part in the lives of the young, they will not learn about God, transcendence, right and wrong, good and evil. It can't be taught in school. If it is not taught at home where will the young learn about the Golden Rule?
Guns are only a tool. They can be used for good as well as for evil. No gun has a conscious will that can commit any crime. Only people have a will and can decide to do good or to do evil.
We cannot allow our young people to be lost. We need to nurture in our young the concept of right and wrong and to recognize and distinguish right from wrong. We need to enforce our laws. Lawlessness breeds lawlessness. We need to respect life. All life. We need to learn to recognize depression and despair and treat it before it turns into harm to self or to others.
We need to turn away from sin and turn to God.
Edit:
A good friend, Jim Quinn, called me after reading this post and said he thought I should have mentioned the need for instilling hope in young people.
He was right. I had meant to do that when I started writing this last night and forgot about it when I finished and posted it today.
Hope is not merely wishing something will happen. Hope is the belief, even the knowledge sometimes, that something good is going to happen. I have hope tomorrow will come and our society will begin to heal itself. That hope is based on my knowledge that bad things have happened in the past, but our country has survived the challenges and difficulties in the past.
The message we hear from so many of our leaders is the world will end in a handful of years if we do not make drastic changes in how we live. Today young people learn in school and hear in the news and on social media that the oceans are going to rise and flood all of the coastal areas. The atmosphere will poison us if we don't eliminate fossil fuel vehicles and heating and cooking equipment.
Who would have hope given that future?
My parents and those who grew up after the start of the nuclear age had a real fear of the possibility of the world coming to an end because nuclear weapons might be launched and destroy everything.
These were real threats and real fears. However, we weren't being bombarded daily or hourly that doom was staring us in the face. Our leaders in government, school, and religion provided messages of hope and encouragement. We knew someone in the Soviet Union could launch missiles that would cause us to launch missiles and that would result in the end of everything. But that message wasn't repeated day after day. We had hope and trust in our leaders.
We also prayed
We need to find hope. We need to create hope. We need to pray for changes that don't destroy the very country, the very society, the very form of government we have.
There is always need for, and room for, improvement in all parts of life.
There is also a need for hope.
