In our country if 7 young people were dying each day from a treatable disease, there would be an out cry. Thats nearly 50 young people a week! The agencies of government from local to national would take notice and mobilize to do something and would have wide public support. AS it turns out this is the number of young people who are dying from gun violence, right here in our country, each day. Matthew was one of the young people back in 2008. Since his death on September 4, 2008 more that 13, 300 young people have met the same fate--death from gun violence. Should we not, as a nation, try to address this problem? Should we not mobilize the resources of government, locally, at the state, regional and national levers, to try to solve this problem? Should we not ask our legislators at every level to look, not just at gun control legislation, but at the underlying causes of our disenfranchised and hopeless communities that contribute such a disproportionate number of their young people to these statistics? Should we not began to shout from our own roof tops, in our comfortable neighborhoods, and everywhere we go in our busy lives, about the need to join together for the common good and to not sacrifice so much to the idol of individual liberty and the right to bear arms, which ultimately simply lines the pockets of the gun manufacturing industry? Could we not then help make a little shift toward a more perfect union, demonizing no one, but standing firm for the values of inclusion and social justice and economic justice as the foundational values of our society? Yes individual liberty is important. I cherish my freedom but we all give up a certain amount of freedom every day in our lives to manage to survive. So let me set aside just a little more time each day to work for the common good, to reach across emotional, political, religious, gender, racial barriers and to ask myself as my young friend Katelin Ryan recently asked, How can I better understand the stories of others? Do we have work to do? We do! Will you join me?
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 17:29:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015