Dear Friends,
I arrived home tonight to hear the devastating news that 18 children and one teacher were killed in a mass shooting in Texas. As was the case in Buffalo, New York, the shooter was an eighteen-year-old man.
This has got to stop.
Ten days after the horrific killing of ten people in a supermarket in Buffalo, the shooting in a church in Laguna Woods, California, and a shooting in an open-air market in Houston, Texas, we witness the unspeakable: 18 children and one teacher were murdered in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Thirty-two people are dead, of which 18 are elementary school age children, and 6 people are critically wounded. My heart is shattered. I mourn this senseless loss of life. Thirty-two potentials were destroyed. The families and the communities to which these people belonged are shattered, as all grieve for their loved ones who died in tragedies that defy understanding, and that try our compassion.
This has got to stop.
Our country is being ravaged by cynical politicians and unscrupulous entertainment/news outlets that use words without caring for the consequences they might have on individuals who listen and consume this inflammatory rhetoric. These individuals have access to guns that they, in turn, use to destroy the fabric of our society.
In our tradition, words have weight. It is not a coincidence that in Hebrew the concept of word and of thing share the same name: davar. Words can destroy, they can inflict damage as much as things. Lies that are spread so that politicians can hold onto power and political commentators can boost their ratings are not just words—they become calls to action to people burning with misguided righteousness, people who have swallowed these lies wholesale, and having unrestricted access to guns, go on shooting innocent people. Words, as heavy as things, must be used to bring people together, to create community, to foster love and kindness.
It is time that we free our country from the shackles of damaging words, spoken without concern for the well-being of our community. It is time that individuals recognize that the lies they are fed for financial and political gains can be stopped by simply changing the channel in their TVs and in their radios. Each one of us must listen critically to the news we are consuming, and discern what is a lie, what is an exaggeration, what is being misconstrued for gains, and what is truth. Enough, already, with false claims, with racism, with economic inequity, with sexism, with a lack of care about the environment, with lawmakers that sow discord. The weight of the words that are being said in our country is too heavy a burden for us to carry. These words are destroying us.
There are not enough thoughts and prayers that can be of comfort to a grieving parent, to a grieving child, to a grieving community. I, however, have a prayer tonight. I pray that the lawmakers who prevent common sense gun laws, who are deaf to the suffering of the poor, who are intent in keeping women bound, who do not care about our environment, as well as the talking heads that amplify lies DEVELOP A SENSE OF SHAME. Have shame. I pray they look at their faces in the mirror and be horrified by what they see. I pray they cannot sleep at night, as they recognize their role in the mayhem that has been unleashed in our country. My wish for them is: have shame and enact laws that will limit these tragedies. I am not asking for much. I am asking for laws that will keep guns out of the hands of mentally and emotionally impaired people. And I am asking all of us to listen critically and to vote for lawmakers who will ensure that unstable people have no legal access to guns.