I wanted to find a positive uplifting topic to start out the New Year however,  with the horrible situation that occurred in Newtown, CN on December 14 I found myself struggling to stay positive. I don’t know a single person who has not been affected by this horrific act. I have been so angry and found it hard to control that anger.  There are so many questions with no answers.  I fight with the thought and hope that we as a society will change our behavior or opinions enough to come together to force a change. How do you hold on to your faith?  How do you hold on to hope? How often have I heard parents say, “I want to leave my children with a better world than the one I live in.”  What kind of world are you leaving to your children and grandchildren?  On Friday, December 14, 20 children and 6 adults were murdered in cold blood.  What provoked a 20 year old man to take a semi-automatic assault rifle and kill 26 people before putting the gun to his head and killing himself?  What amount of indescribable pain was this young man in that he felt this was necessary? We all have freedom of will and freedom of choice.  These are a God given right.  Why did he make this choice?  This is just the latest of what can be considered a growing epidemic situation involving our children and young adults.  When I pose this question to other people the response is “Welcome to the real world, get used to it” or “This is what our society has become.” Everyone has an opinion but no one seems to have an answer. So, do we give up? Do we settle with the realization that this is what our world, our society has come to? There has been a lot of discussion and rhetoric on this subject. Everyone has an opinion and when one doesn’t agree with the other they are considered an idiot, throw their hands up and walk away.  Maybe that’s part of the problem right there.  We end the discussion and walk away.  The discussion only resumes when another tragedy strikes and we start the rhetoric all over again.   There lies the problem, an ever ending of discussions and opinion without any real solution.  Instead of looking at the whole picture we use our own opinions and try to force those opinions on others instead of looking at the effects it is having on our children, each other and society. Then the blame game starts.  We blame our government, the mental health system, the banking system, one another.  When do we stop placing blame and work together to come up with a practical solution?   Are we as a society immune to the fact that we are killing our own people? Are we, in fact, watching the demise of our own race?   We are allowing these situations to infiltrate our society, the medical field, Politician’s, Media, Movie Industry, you.  Are we accepting that this is just the way of life? The next question is why are we allowing this? Who is responsible?  Every one of us is responsible for what we teach our children. We, not just the parents, but every adult has an influence in a child’s life.  We as adults are responsible for what we expose our children to.  Because of our own fear we are now raising our children to live in fear.  We are exposing our children to visual, audio and sub-conscience influences that no child should be witness to.   The actions and reactions are a direct result of what you feed your children.  Nutritionally, spiritually, and psychologically, our children are a direct result of every experience and influence that comes their way.  What happened to allowing our children to be children, to live their childhood with the element of imagination.  To feed their brains with all of the wonders this world had to offer.  I’m refraining from using the word “has” because at the moment I’m not sure what we have to offer.  I look around now and the wonders of this world are being encroached on by the horrors of violence, intolerance and greed.  Is this really what we as parents intended?  Is this what our faith and our spirituality are about?  Fear?  As the violence in our society becomes a part of our every day culture and fills our thoughts with anger and even more violence what does that do to the spiritual growth of or children?   How do we protect them without putting them all in underground shelters away from the realities that are forced upon us each and every day? How do we as parents offer our children hope that this world, our country is the land of the free, home of the brave if they don’t feel safe playing a game of catch in their own backyards.  I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be aware of what is going on and I’m not naive to say that it’s all fluffy clouds and puppy dog tails.   This is life, real life and we need to protect our children.  Protecting our children starts with you. I find myself in a quandary, because I agree with both sides of the topic.  Gun control, government control and putting armed guards in our school, mental health care, responsible parenting.  The problem I have is that we are looking at this subject as reasonable adults.  Those who commit these heinous crimes are not reasonable adults. Many aren’t even adults.  They are children with mental disorders of varying degrees.  Some are considered “misfits” or “outcasts” from our society.  If you go back and look at what promoted others into the same act of violence there is usually one common denominator.  Many of these young boys were bullied or teased throughout their lives.  Not just by their peers but by adults, teachers and even their own parents.   All these boys wanted was to be accepted.  Only to be shunned and ridiculed. I see and hear news reports about random violence.  Sorry, I don’t believe that violence is random.  Many of these acts of mass murders are carefully planned out and executed. They formulate a plan. Process these plans in their minds and set out with every intention of causing great harm to a large number of our neighbors.  Yes, neighbors!  The majority of these murders are carried with such incredible hatred for whoever or whatever it is in our society that persecuted them.  Many who commit these crimes have sought out help from our health care services.  Many are turned away.  Some have already been through the system so many times there is no place for them to go any longer so they are thrown out onto the streets to fend for themselves while their families fight for their rights.  Mental illness is often silent because of the ridicule that goes along with it.  These poor men, women and children suffer greatly for years before they finally take this last desperate measure and formulate a plan to “get back” at those who have done them wrong. We are a reactionary society rather than a pro-active one.   When a tragedy such as Sandy Hook or Columbine occurs we jump and patch the hole left as a result of what has just occurred.   Will adding armed guards into any school really protect our children? Arming our teachers?  Look at Columbine, April 1999.   They had armed security, yet in less than 30 minutes twelve students, one teacher, and the two murderers were dead; 21 injured. The Red Lake Indian Reservation School, 10 students killed by one gunman.  They also had security at the school. Virginia Tech, they have their own police department. Yes, armed.  32 people killed and 17 others injured.   Stop justifying murder. You can’t.  Stop trying to put a reason to it.  You can’t.   Our Constitution allows us to bear arms to protect ourselves.  This is a right given to us by our forefathers.   The freedom of choice and will to use these arms is given to us by God.   You have every right to protect yourself, your family and your property.  That right I won’t argue. Am I going to go out and purchase a fire arm?  No. When I look at the whole picture I’m overwhelmed.  How do we give our children hope? How do we raise our children in a world that is imploding around them?  We don’t. We support them and protect them with every part of our being.  But, we allow our children to find their own sliver of hope to hang on to.  The same way we did.  We teach our children to be responsible, respectful and by doing that our children will find the answers to the questions we still ask. They will find a way to rid this world of hate, bigotry and violence.  It’s actually very simple. Listen to our children.  They already have the answers.   We are the ones who aren’t listening. How did I find my faith? What sliver of hope did I find?  I found that sliver of hope in the words of a grieving father, Robbie Parker.  I watched this grieving father stand up in front of millions and forgive this 20 year old boy for murdering his daughter the day before.  After identifying and confirming that his daughter was one of the victims Mr. Parker stood up and professed his faith and by his words of forgiveness and the love of his daughter he handed me that thread of hope. Hope that there are parents out there raising their children to become our next leaders. our peacemakers and possibly the next generation to find the answers and the solutions to what we have not been able to resolve. There were two significant pieces of Mr. Parker’s speech. The first “ This tragedy has “not turn into something that defines us, but something that inspires us to be better, to be more compassionate and more humble people.” Mr. Parker then went on to say how he isn’t angry at the boy who did this.  How can he not be?  This man just murdered his daughter the day before and he along with his family has already forgiven him.  Why? Mr. Parker goes on to say: “I know that God can’t take away free will and would have been unable to stop the Sandy Hook shooting. While gunman used his free agency to take innocent lives, I plan to use his in a positive way.”  “I’m not mad because I have my free agency to use this event to do whatever I can to make sure my family and my wife and my daughters are taken care of,” he said. “And if there’s anything I can do to help to anyone at any time at anywhere, I’m free to do that.” Our faith has a way of reminding us that there is good in the world in spite of the horrendous events that occur every day.   Maybe this tragedy is supposed to remind us how valuable life is.  The year 2012 was supposed to be about our “spiritual awakening.”  Are we awake yet? I hope so.  I pray so. After all of the anger has died down and the blaming ceases maybe we can finally sit down as adults and find a solution to what is dividing us and destroying our society. If we can put our ego and political views aside we may actually find a resolve to this.    I don’t have the answers, I wish I did. I’m certainly not smart enough to know the answer, but I’m willing to work to help find them.  I would rather be part of the solution rather than accepting our world as it is.  If we all have freedom of choice and freedom of will then I choose to be a part of the solution and will not stand and watch our society implode. I have my faith.  I will hold on to that faith and pray that we will leave our children and grandchildren and generations to come a better world than what we live in now.  I’ll hold on to the thought that there is beauty and there is hope.    If we don’t have faith or hope what do we have left?   I’d rather not think about that.  I “choose” to BELIEVE. Peace to you and your children.  Our children!  Our World! BELIEVE 2013.]]>