Seriously people!

I made the mistake this morning

of reading the news on the internet

I made the bigger mistake of reading the comments

posted after the articles

I am sorry I did that

the comments are painful

for their twisted logic

their hate

their bias

my whole being was assaulted 

by the name calling

the brutality

the excess of emotion present

for a few moments I wrote some responses

trying to insert fact

trying to moderate the insanity

but then I realized

that this is a sickness I cannot cure

I am not sure any of us can

we are looking 

at the face of fear

fear of "them"

that "they" will break into my house and attack me (so I need guns)

that the nasty government will become a dictatorship (so I need guns) 

actually fear of almost everything

including vaccinations

(how that got into a discussion about Sandy Hook is a long story)

Even fear of God was present, with the "turn or burn" (law not grace) crowd making a strong showing  (I read an argument that the teacher who died protecting the children might not have been a Christian, so was in hell, yes, really)

ultimately the fear leads to hate

and the hate?

We see that all too clearly

So much of what makes our society sick

and dangerous

and deadly

emerges out of fear

I can only imagine the fears that assailed the mother 

who stockpiled guns

and, apparently, taught her son to use them

In the Word we are told 

that "perfect love casts out all fear"

The love that was in Victoria

as she protected her students

The love that say

violence stops here

The love of God that says, "come to me... and rest"

We don't love very well

usually

We really do need the love of god in us

to get to that place where we love others

and can move away from fear

and fear based behaviors

So for my part, I am not going to buy a new gun

I am going to let the spark of the sacred God placed in me

connect me to God

and I am going to nurture that connection

and seek to learn how to love

more deeply

more selflessly

more powerfully

and that is how I am going to combat evil

will love protect me if someone comes after me with a gun?

No

But I can live with that

And die with that