From Grief to Blame
It’s hard not to seek answers during a time like this in our country. It’s hard not to keep your eyes glued to the TV as the news coverage uncovers all the details of a national tragedy.
It’s also hard to simply let yourself heal.
My therapist in seminary told me I move on too fast. I hadn’t thought about that before, but I realized she was true, especially once I had the experience of grieving through a loss before then seeking answers. I thought seeking answers would help me heal.
It didn’t.
Moving on is the natural instinct in a situation like this, because we just want to the pain to be over. But by not feeling the pain, we are stunting our emotional health and most importantly, our hearts become hard.
The news is making me very angry tonight. Investigative reporters are pushing, pushing, pushing to blame, blame, blame. Blaming the mother, blaming the school’s lack of security. They are even analyzing the statements made by parents of those who lost children and asking physiologists to tell the world how the parents should be reacting. WE GET IT.
But stop. Seriously, stop it.
Let us grieve. Let us process the nature of this evil and the children who died senselessly. It will not help us to hear about why this killer’s mother had so many guns. It will not help us to hear that the killer was mentally ill. It will help us to hear about the children who died. It will help us to hear about the heroic acts of the teachers inside that classroom.
Let us cry. Let us grieve. Stop giving us answers, stop assigning blame and start giving us hope.
Comments
Amen.