How things have changed for the worse…
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Twitter itRemember when “school shooters” used to refer to games of cowboys and indians? You probably won’t, not unless you’re over a certain age. Here, this will remind you:
This is a photo taken by a photographer named Arthur Rothstein, at the FSA camp elementary school in Weslaco, TX, back in 1942. Shorpy, everyone’s favorite 100-year-old photo blog, ran that photo this past Sunday. You can view the post and the full size photo as well if you’d like.
If you say the phrase “school shooters” nowadays, what sort of imagery does it conjure? I’m safe in assuming it won’t be this photo, not when you think of all the nutjobs that have gone around shooting innocent kids and then turning the gun on themselves in recent years.
A friend of mine sent me an article from the LA Weekly, also this past Sunday, entitled “L.A. Gangs: Nine Miles and Spreading“. It’s a thoroughly researched expose written at the reporter’s peril. Its author, Peter Landesman, put himself in near death situations several times while he researched the story. I encourage you to read it in full.
I have to wonder what has caused us as a country, and as a human race, to slide so far down the path of destruction. There were times not so long ago when school shootings referred to friendly games of cowboys and indians; when gangs acted with more common sense, and when conflicts between rival gangs were settled with fist fights, not deadly bullets, and certainly not by hurting or killing innocent victims.
Ours is a sick country. I don’t think we’re alone though. France is only one international example of deep-seated problems with its population, as evidenced by the continued violence and destructive acts of the Arab population in and near Paris. If you look at basically any country of the world nowadays, the violence there has gotten worse. Things have escalated everywhere.
But let’s look back at the US. Like it or not, we are still an example for many of the other countries. Don’t you agree that things need to change? We have so many internal problems. I have to ask why we keep involving ourselves in external situations like those in Iraq or Iran, or… you fill in the blank. Shouldn’t our nation’s government concern itself more with fixing these sorts of internal problems, which are quite severe, instead of wasting precious of our resources elsewhere?
On a more general note, reflecting on this ongoing and escalating violence leaves me speechless. Sure, you wouldn’t know it by reading this post, but really, I don’t know how to address it. How do we respond to it? How should we respond to it? How can we fix it? What’s to be done?
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There is, if you’ll pardon the pun, no magic bullet, though I honestly believe that it all starts at home. But don’t get me started on the state of public education. Please.
Comment — December 18, 2007 @ 9:10 am
It’s true, the home and family environment plays a HUGE role in this, but what do you do when you’re daily confronted with dangers and life and death situations just outside your home’s threshold? No, the solution is more complicated than this, and needs to be attacked on multiple fronts. For one thing, there aren’t enough cops in L.A. The article I mentioned in the post makes that crystal clear. But again, that’s only part of the solution. More cops could help control the violence and reduce it, but to eliminate it, more is needed. What is that “more”?
I don’t think, for example, that metal detectors are the solution to controlling school violence. I also don’t think the fancy security checks at airports are the solution to eliminating terrorism. They treat the symptoms, much like aspirin would. How do you get to the root of the problem?
Comment — December 18, 2007 @ 12:41 pm
No doubt, I’m sure you realize that the further we as individuals get from God, the further we drift from a solid foundation that holds together our nation and culture.
I’m not talking about being a “Christian nation”. I’m talking about being a nation of God fearing people. Europe is a solid example of secularization gone wrong.
Comment — December 18, 2007 @ 12:43 pm
Trevor, you and I both know that God is the pink elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about these days, unless they’re Republicans and they’re vying for public office…
Yes, God is the solution, and I’d love to see more God fearing people, but that’s never going to happen. Most people, and I’m referring to people of any religion that purports to believe in God, not just Christians, accept God in a self-serving and hypocritical sort of way. They don’t experience a true conversion and thus do not reap the benefits that would normally arrive with a true conversion. So while we can talk about God being a solution, and a select few of us know He would be THE solution, the truth of the matter is that it wouldn’t work.
No, we need a civil/governmental solution to the problem. We certainly DO NOT need to legislate some sort of religious response to the situation, that would be horribly wrong and would reek of the Dark Ages, but we need to come up, as country, with a way to stop the violence and deal with our many internal ills. It’s a very difficult proposition, but one worth fighting for much more so than the ridiculous war we’re engaged in right now.
Comment — December 18, 2007 @ 12:49 pm
@Raoul, to your comment.
More cops is too just a treatment of the symptoms. However, half the political base won’t allow law enforcement to occur properly. Being a member of the law enforcement community I see this first hand. Just like anything effected by politicians, our hands are often tied in actually enforcing the law.
With disagreement between whether law breakers should be punished or rehabilitated you will never be able to deal appropriately with criminals. For example, the gangster is proud to get arrested for his assault with a deadly weapon. That charge adds to his resume. Then he is rewarded with extra education by being shipped off to prison. Prison is great for them. It doesn’t suck like it should, because half the political base is concerned with how we may hurt the gangster’s dealings. And the cycle continues.
Many will argue that punishments don’t deter a criminal from committing criminal acts. However, 60 years ago, less people robbed liquor stores. Why?
Anyway, I’ve written this quick and in the midst of kids playing. Sorry if I rambled on a bit.
Comment — December 18, 2007 @ 12:50 pm
No, that’s a great comment, Trevor, would love to hear more. I’ve wondered often about why we’re so easy on the criminals as a country. On the one hand, it’s good because there are many wrongly accused people in prisons, or people that would love to rehabilitate themselves and make honest efforts to do so, but then we’ve got the people you mention, the people that should be doing hard labor for their crimes and lack of desire to change their criminal ways.
And yes, while I agree we should have more cops, more cops also means abuse of power, so that’s got to be a delicately-balanced move.
Comment — December 18, 2007 @ 12:55 pm
We’re playing hopscotch with our comments. My last was for your first.
To respond to your response…
“Yes, God is the solution, and I’d love to see more God fearing people, but that’s never going to happen.”
It WILL happen, and it is the ONLY solution. Without God, there is no hope for a nation, culture, or community. No amount of legislation will repair what is a genuine spiritual problem. Our problem isn’t a lack in laws, it is a lack in real spiritual transformation. That’s why all other purported believers in God offer no help for the future, because they don’t know the one true God. Only a transforming faith in the God of the Bible, through acceptance of his Son’s sacrifice on the cross, will we ever see healing in our world.
Comment — December 18, 2007 @ 12:56 pm
Raoul, please don’t think that the few bad cops that make it on the news are even close to the norm. Because we live in a fallen world, consumed with sin, we cannot be naive to think that there will be even one profession free from sin.
However, know that the majority of law enforcement agencies have so many overlapping checks and balances built in, that nearly all errors are brought to the surface like a zit. Even within most agencies, you have multiple political groups and clicks driving hard for attention and as a result you find each other trying to reveal all errors and misjudgments. The days of the “code of silence” are nearly gone in most law enforcement agencies. There’s always someone willing to tattle. He, he.
Comment — December 18, 2007 @ 1:01 pm
I am less optimistic about our collective spiritual transformation than you, Trevor. Much less. We’ve had Bible-thumping preachers sweating and going hoarse at the pulpits for decades. The only transformation they’ve managed to achieve is a collective fattening of their wallets. All I need do is to turn on my TV on Sunday mornings to see the charlatans crying crocodile tears because they need more money for this and that.
Yes, I believe people can be changed, no, transformed, by faith. But it’s not going to happen on a large scale, not in this country, not when people like Britney Spears or Paris Hilton will quickly clutch the nearest Bible and parade it around for all to see, and claim God as their personal, spectacular Savior as long as it befits them, then turn around and engage in the same immoral lifestyles they’re known for.
No, in this country, God has been turned into a lobby-arm, into a marketing machine for “Christian” merchandise, into a shiny flag that gets waved around to dazzle the sheeple and get them to vote for you.
There are true believers, I know they’re out there, but they’re few and far between. They’re certainly not public figures, and they’re certainly not in the majority, nor will they ever be. Even the Bible agrees with that statement.
On another note, I’m heartened by your comments on cops and transparency in law enforcement agencies.
Comment — December 18, 2007 @ 1:17 pm
I agree with your comments about “God” being used as an accessory. However, those people are not believers, transformed, or Christians. I’m not interested in petty theological arguments, that so many get caught up with. The truth is that genuine saving faith, in the one true God, brings about a rebirth. This is manifested by a transformed life. Those wolves on TV are not Christianity, I agree.
John Piper recently taught on this very thing, http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/BySeries/83/
Comment — December 18, 2007 @ 1:37 pm
I spent five years working in Christian radio, Raoul, and your comments are sadly true. The bright spot is the fact that there ARE true believers out there. There ARE people who are trying their best to do good works for the love of God and their fellow human beings. Unfortunately, most of them are overshadowed by the Christian money machines.
Comment — December 18, 2007 @ 1:58 pm