Mass shootings have become our new “norm”

Mass shootings have become our new “norm.”

It shocks us a little less every time. We are saddened, of course, by the lives lost, the hearts broken, the peace shattered, but shocked?  No.

We, well I can’t speak in terms of “we” but I find myself a little desensitized over the course of the past few years, the past few massacres, into a place of not so much shock and dismay, but of numbness.  Not that I am a cold-hearted person, but after a while, things become less and less shocking and more and more a part of our culture.  I don’t know about you, but I see the news and I feel sickened and saddened and heartbroken for the victims and their families, but then this story becomes just that – a story. I move on with my day and my life and somehow compartmentalize all of that horror into a tiny part of my brain that must be marked “do not open.”

I don’t know the answer to the gun control debate. I don’t even know where I stand on our “right to bear arms.”  Really, I don’t. I understand the issue from many angles and I don’t think anyone has yet to come up with a viable solution for all of us.

But what about this?

What about if we stop using violence and death for entertainment?  What if we stopped watching violent movies and stopped playing criminal-themed video games?  What if we stopped allowing our children to become desensitized to violence in the name of said entertainment and started modeling peaceful living? What if we showed a better way to live, not only in how we live in our own homes but also what we allow on the big screen and all the smaller screens as well?

Peace on earth? It begins at home. Mine. Theirs. Yours.