Are We Failing Our Kids?

Today's my youngest daughter's thirteenth birthday, kind of a big deal in my little world.  She was born on a rainy day in Boston, two months after 9/11.  The world seemed sad then, and dark.  But Hannah's smile--which seems almost to brighten daily--has gladdened many a heart in her thirteen years.  Mine especially.  Her smile's kept the dark at bay.

She awakened this morning, as we all did, to a robocall from the public high school: coolly announcing that classes had been cancelled for the day, due to a threat to student security.  Later in the morning, we learned that an anonymous email had threatened a school shooting spree and mass casualties.  Police and school officials were taking the prank seriously and making absolutely sure the school was safe--before inviting students back for classes.

While Hannah's older sister greeted the day off with satisfaction, Hannah packed her lunch and headed off to Middle School.  She'd done all her homework and fueled up on a big birthday breakfast.  But I couldn't help wondering what all this gun talk does to a thirteen-year-old: to a girl who still loves school, who wants to write and learn and explore new territory.  To be honest, she's pretty sober about it, and seems to accept days like today as the landscape of her world.  (Last month, she and her classmates were sent home from school early one day, when a loaded gun was discovered in a classmate's backpack.)

I read recently that more Americans--more of my neighbors, I guess--are carrying concealed weapons/guns than ever before.  There's no doubt that more teens than ever before are playing hyper-violent video games (and passing on hiking and team sports and fishing and the rest to do so).  We're caught in a maddening web of fear, violent international conflict and entertainment addictions--a brew that only encourages a perceived need for self-defense and wariness.

I'm not satisfied that this is a flowering of the American Dream.  Or any dream, for that matter.  The American experiment, as I understand it, has to do with community, diversity, mutual responsibility and shared prosperity.  The world that Hannah's discovering, even at thirteen, seems brutal and fearful and committed to fear as economic and social policy.

Tomorrow morning, Hannah's sister will go to high school, hoping that all will be well, trusting in the assurance of school officials and local police.  This seems insane to me: that our kids have to go to school this way, with these kinds of questions.  Hoping that no one will pull out an automatic weapon and start shooting up the lunch room.  What are we doing to our children?  And what kind of world have we settled for in 2014?  I've never voted for the NRA--and I refuse to believe their agenda is the majority vision for our country.  But they seem to win and win, bully and bully, nonetheless.  No President, no congress, no court stands up to them.  How is this?  Frankly, it's disgusting.  As a father, as a human, as an American, it saddens me.

For what it's worth, I'm thinking of offering two challenges to my congregation this coming Sunday.  First, let's all make a commitment NOT to carry concealed weapons/guns of any kind.  As Christians.  As Americans.  As people of faith and conscience, infused with the spirit of Jesus.  Let's make it plain that we see no room for such madness in a Christian life.  If Jesus is our rock and our security, we choose faith over every other defense.  I'd like to see a whole church of folks say: "NO."

And second, let's all make a commitment NOT to shop on Thanksgiving.  This whole bit of Black Friday creeping back toward Black Thursday is disturbing and (frankly) un-american.  Let's resist Walmart and Macy's and K-Mart and every other big box seller of stuff, and let's be clear that we despise our neighbors' having to work on a holiday that should be about community, diversity, mutual responsibility and shared prosperity.  If Walmart wants to pay them more, let them pay them more.  But don't make good people, family people, American people, work on Thanksgiving.  We don't need their stuff that badly.

For some reason, I see these two things as connected, related somehow.  And I'm thinking of challenging my congregation to stand up and be counted on both fronts.  We say NO to carrying concealed weapons.  We say NO to the NRA's vision of a ammo-ed up America.  We say NO to rushing from Thanksgiving Dinner to Walmart's orgy, NO to giving up family time, and NO to encouraging corporations to pull hard-working folks from their tables and friends on a holy day.

We say YES to kids and teachers.  We say YES to working people and Thanksgiving dinners.  We say YES to a world where fear is met with discussion and collaboration and prayer, not concealed weapons and blame and bigotry.  Our thirteen-year-olds deserve better.