Thoughts On Tragedy
This morning while having my coffee I turned on the news and was greeted with another tragedy. Three students were killed and dozens wounded on the MSU, Lansing, Michigan campus last night. Wounded students were rushed to a nearby Trauma Center for treatment. I tuned in just as a press conference from the hospital was taking place, and the head doctor of the emergency trauma center was speaking, overcome with emotion from treating these young people's grevious wounds, he couldn't hold back his tears. What bolstered him, he relayed to the reporters, during the chaos were the many text messages from colleagues. "On my way," they dropped everything to respond, helping to save lives. It was the medical community that rallied around to help and the community at large that provided the information to law enforcement to apprehend the perpetrator. Needless to say, our hearts and prayers go out to the victims, their families and friends, that have to endure the aftermath of such senseless and evil violence.
We are not strangers to this type of violence in our own community. The shootings at the Squirrel Hill Synagogue come to mind as does the shooting rampage of Richard Baumhammer that started here in Mt. Lebanon. We can never forget September 11th. whose tragedy touched even members of our own congregation at Beverly Heights. In each case a similar community response happened. After the 9-11 tragedy, national and international response was overwhelming. Tragedy happens and people come together to help. America is always at the forefront with monetary help, relief supplies and boots on the ground, when natural disasters occur around the world. It's in our DNA as Americans.
Why does it take a tragedy involving multiple deaths, for a community to come together? These events are "sensationalized" by media coverage and with social media platforms we learn of it as it is happening or shortly thereafter. What about the everyday tragedies that aren't deemed newsworthy? I'm talking about children and senior citizens going hungry, homelessness, battered women, widows needing help, elderly abandoned in nursing homes, this list could go on and on. Every day we are witnesses to these tragedies taking place under our very noses but we tend to ignore them. Where is the national and local outrage over the drive by shootings of children and young men and women in Chicago? We report the statistics and cluck our tongues only to forget about it, as it is so commonplace.
Perhaps we should do some soul searching of ourselves, in our churches, as well as the community leaders we elect. Think of the impact we could have if we harnessed that same "DNA" into coming together as a community to help those in need around us. The Church needs to take the lead in doing so. One congregation can't come the aid of every tragedy but perhaps we can pick one or two that we are gifted to handle and some other churches pitch in looking to care in other ways. There are lots of churches we could network with, to get things done for the betterment of our communities and for the love of our fellow neighbors. Mt. Lebanon High School use to require community service hours for graduation. Elderly and handicapped residents could send in requests for help with raking leaves, lawn mowing , snow removal, etc. and post requests on a bulletin board for the kids to take and get the hours they needed to meet their requirements. What a wonderful way to introduce young people to community service. Sadly this is no longer being done in our community and our senior citizens and handicapped are worse off for it. There are plenty of opportunities to love our neighbors, we need just to open our eyes to find them. "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing well." (James 2:8) Let us do well together.