Action or Apathy? Helping Hands or Pointing Fingers?
As we absorb the details, horror, grief, pain, and also the debate and rhetoric after Tuesday’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, it is hard to not become discouraged and disheartened.
There are calls for change, demands for new policies, finger-pointing, blame, outrage, hopelessness. I take the news in small doses and only from certain sources. There is a flood of support and condolences, calls for action, renewed debates about gun control, school safety, societal factors.
But within days, most of us will return to our usual lives; able to put the horrible news aside because we weren’t directly impacted. Or we point fingers of blame at broken systems and declare the problem to be someone else’s to fix.
Is that helpful and responsible? As adults, we can be asking ourselves how to make a positive difference, to help turn the tide of despair and violence. We can consider that each of us has a role in this bigger picture. We are probably already doing things that are supportive in our homes and communities. Are we caring for our family, spending time talking to our children and really listening? Do we set healthy boundaries for them and for ourselves? Do we know when to seek additional help?
Are we caring for our community? Being a good neighbor. Greeting others kindly. Thanking those who provide services. Judging and comparing less, accepting and learning more. Do we compassionately call out injustice and hatred when we see and hear it, even among relatives and friends?
Some of us will work to change policy, run for office, march in a demonstration. Others will be more behind the scenes. It all matters. If we each contribute in some way, momentum for the changes we need will build. It will take patience and perseverance, but we have it.
I look to the words of others to help bring clarity in the clutter, identification of mixed emotions, a sense of direction, and actionable steps I can take. Here are some of those words:
“All we do for now is not turn away; and we see who around us needs help.” Anne Lamott on Twitter 5/24/22
“The size of the crisis, and its sheer horror, make it all too easy to toss up one’s hand and declare: Nothing can be done. But that is the counsel of despair, and we are a people of hope. What do we hope for our children? . . . As I reflect on this latest American massacre, I keep returning to these questions: Who are we as a nation if we do not act to protect our children? What do we love more: our instruments of death or our future?” (Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, May 24, 2022)
It comes down to this: Will you and I take action or return to apathy? Will you and I point fingers of blame or extend our helping hands?
