Every time there is another mass shooting with a semi-automatic weapon we go through the same copied and shared posts. It is highly repetitive band-aids and baseball bats. The patriots want to save the second amendment; the progressives want everything from total confiscation of all privately owned guns to stricter background checks. The church folks want God, the BIBLE, The Ten Commandments, Jesus and God allowed back in the schools. Many organizations demand stricter laws and more individual rights and find themselves arguing for both sides in alternate cases. Those against psychotropic drugs point out the vast majority of shooters when you figure in suicide are on the prescription mind-altering drugs of one kind or another. Then again, so is way too large a percentage of the total population that is being well drugged up by big Pharna. Coming in strong from the right are groups of religious leaders against X-Box and all violent video games. The senior citizen calls for a return to strict discipline. These are good points for discussion, other than confiscation of private guns and ammo. All this is band-aids and baseball bats. I SEE THE POINT TO EACH OF THE ABOVE. These are areas for evidence and debate, “Come let us reason together.” It is time for all groups to call a national conference to bring the evidence and seek an answer that will protect babies through senior citizens. Lori added her two cents:
“Not politically correct but true story.
“The problem is not guns. There is a proliferate number of guns in Central America, and we have a severe problem with violence but not massive senseless violence on innocent bystanders but a violence of anger and vengeance. The problem with the violence in schools and mass shootings in the U.S. is totally different. In my humble opinion, when you take the light out of the darkness, the darkness overcomes and wins. Since the sixties we have systematically been removing the light from the school system. First with the removal of prayer, then with the denial of after school Bible clubs and Christian support groups such as Christian athletic associations (my generation). Then came the home school movement and Christians everywhere rushed to remove their children from public school to protect them instead of giving their children spiritual weapons to stand strong. So, why do we wonder or question why evil and darkness overpowers our young and our schools if we kicked out God and the light forty years ago? One generation of godlessness and we have a godless generation. There is no respect for human life because life is no longer sacred.
“The reason that there is not massive senseless violence in Latin American cultures is that God is still very present in the schools and in education. Guatemalan National Curriculum regulates and instills the teaching of Christian values. Teachers are free to talk about God and pray in the schools, public or private. In other words, the light shines in the darkness, and even a little bit of light banishes darkness. You want to take back your schools, America? Forget about worrying about guns. Get God back in your schools and bring the Christian children back to do what they are called by God to do: fight the good fight. Church, stand up and stop cowering and hiding in your safe crystal towers, worrying about lawsuits and offending special interest groups and get out of the friggin salt shaker and start being the salt in this world. If the Church would be the church, then the lost and lonely, the rejected, the sick, the dying, and above all, the hurt and broken children would have a refuge and place of healing.”
Thank you, Lori. In the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, Melba and I reared a battalion of classroom warriors that won awards, National Scholarship Society awards, and we saw teachers, principals and school boards back down. At the same time, Melba and I were guest speakers, hard workers with the PTA/PTO of various schools; we supported our schools, but demanded a place of hearing at the public table of learning. But to earn our place at the table of learning, we started at home with discipline and home education.
Melba was the disciplinarian; I don’t believe she ever said, “Wait till your father gets home; you will get it.” Melba believed discipline begins your first day of life. I never knew her to be cruel or abusive. The only time she was destructive, and I had to look away for the sake of harmony, was when seventeen-year-old Donny bought a used motorcycle when told not to and she took an ice pick and destroyed the tires. Through it all, she was and is still greatly loved by her children. When our children went to public school they knew the rules, how to obey them, and when there were disagreements it was not handled with rebellion, but discussion, logic and respect. To stem gun shooting and violence in society, as a whole, begin with discipline and education at home; work with the schools.
Knowledge of God, The Bible, history and so much more begins at home; the public school is too crowded and busy to teach them all they should know. Most teachers are public school trained, and at best, they are minimally trained to do their job. The same is true of our churches. We parents must step in with more homework than the school gives. The proof is in the pudding of the achievement of our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Billy Graham was quoted a lot this past week due to his graduation to heaven; this was one of my favorites: “The greatest legacy one can leave their children is not money and other things, but rather a legacy of character and truth.” This again is learned at home.
I want to say up front in this paragraph, there is something wrong with our gun laws when the law prohibits a nineteen-year-old from buying a hand gun, but allow him to buy an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and large load clips designed for mass murder and nothing else.
We need an open conference with the NRA management, the congressional committee on firearms, and a select educational group with a large amount of public input. There is a lot of slanted material by both sides; the bologna needs discounted. For example, the USA is third in the industrial world in firearm violent deaths. But if you deduct the firearm deaths in Chicago, New York, Detroit and Washington DC—the cities with the most gun violent deaths and the strictest gun control laws the USA—the USA falls off the chart to fourth from the bottom of the list.
The schools must play a major part in the solution.
Intelligent and witnessed corporal punishment must be reestablished. All of my generation survived swats and got smarter as the board of education was applied to the seat of knowledge. Schools must once again take seriously the job of educating, not babysitting and entertaining them till you can graduate them. The suggested mental health class should be a freshman-required class before being passed to the 10th grade. Because all of our community needs involved in solving this problem, our state colleges could offer summer school courses or distant learning classes to certify teachers that were educated in teaching these subjects to teens, not just handing a textbook or syllabus and good wishes. I have served on a charter high school advisory counsel and trustee and regent and advisor to three private colleges, and administration often takes shortcuts; the public needs to hold their feet to the fire.
A far greater problem in dealing with violent deaths including suicides is prescribed psychotropic drugs. I have personal knowledge of a state-provided doctor that prescribed several of these mind-altering drugs and warned the patient, “If you have serious side effects call me at once. Then we will try other drugs.” These drugs are so regulated that only the prescribed could pick up and then with photo ID. The doctor is throwing drugs against the wall, seeing what might stick, and playing Russian roulette with the person’s life and with the safety of society. This must be stopped by government regulation now. It is too ingrained in the system. The big Pharma makes billions a year and gives millions to elected officials to get friendly folk reelected. It will take our “Junk yard dog” president to pull the plug on big pharma and their in bed government-controlled doctors. Every fall my very good doctor is required by government fiat to ask me to take the flu shot; he then smiles, knowing my answer, “No, thank you.” That is only this year 36% EFECTIVE IN PREVENTING FLU. On the other hand, my 2,000 mg of vitamin C daily is 60%+ effective.
My mother and my wife were hard-nosed about taking kids to or going to see a doctor. There is no doubt with my dyslexia and my ADHD a doctor would have loaded me with big pharma today. My mother’s answer was a good paddle and keeping me busy to work off the hyperactivity. And it worked. I remember the day in 1939; mother had the church ladies for a home Bible study at our home. We had a rented home with city water, outdoor outlets and water hose. Wanting to be helpful and to play service station I played gas station attendant and using the water hose and filled all the ladies cars at my gas station. Believe me; I got the paddle that day.
How about God’s place at school?
It is important to remember we in the USA are a Democratic Republic and there is the first amendment that guarantees all religions; atheism and skepticism are belief systems and are a religion. They ought not to override the majority, but must be accommodated in the public square. I believe every citizen should be taught respect for their country and each day should start with the pledge of allegiance to the flag with the whole class taking part (accommodation for religious exception signed by parents and religious leader). Followed by three minutes of silence for each youth to pray or meditate as taught at home. There should be a bulletin board where, with supervision, all students could post important document of there faith in a predetermined space that was according to the percentage of that faith in the school. God should be a free expression from every one with room for all.
These are some of my thoughts on school and culture violence. It has left out my view of demon occupation where Demons can whisper instructions to kill, steal, and rob. This occupation is opened by drugs, alcohol, porn, and video games. As a result, all the laws in Washington D.C., as helpful as they might be, will not stop all the murder and violence. The only answer here is for the Church to reach out and be the safety net for society by doing what Christ assigned us to do.