On Wednesday morning I was working on an opinion piece about the Comey hearing when “Morning Joe” interrupted their coverage of AG Jeff Session’s testimony with the news of the shooting. Suddenly, everything else became old news. Suddenly, nothing else seemed to matter. Suddenly, we all found ourselves in front of a huge mirror and what we saw, we didn’t like. It was a shock to see a reflection of what we’ve become. Everyone reading this knows exactly what I mean.
We’ve become tribal, not united. We’ve become indifferent to the pain of others, not empathetic. We’ve become closed-minded rather than open to differing viewpoints and opinions. We only listen to those we agree with. We have become angrier and angrier. We’ve lost the sense of trust and unity. We treat each other as the enemy. We use religion as an excuse and escape. Civility and respect are not default responses; they have been replaced with suspicion. We have become immune to the feelings and experiences of others. And we live in a country where basically anyone can purchase a gun.
Watching the response from Congress today was heartening. It seems they’ve taken a look in the mirror as well. That’s a good thing. We could all use better models of behavior and it seems members of Congress have stepped up to the plate – so to speak. It’s good to see the baseball game for charity will be played as planned.
That said, it’s important to keep this in perspective – this was one shooter. Just one. Fortunately, no one died. But today, 93 others did. Everyone on that baseball field today did one thing perfectly. They looked out for each other. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all did that.
Marsha Shearer is a resident of The Villages.
