What The Gilroy Tragedy Tells Us About Ourselves

We’ve had another “mass shooting” in America; this one close to home, at the site of the annual Garlic Festival in Gilroy, south east of San Jose. I guess “mass shooting” has come to mean a tragedy where multiple people are shot at in an organized gathering, and I feel like we’re becoming numb to these tragedies. They happen with more frequency than ever before in modern America, and apparently we’re supposed to follow the same post-tragedy drill:

Thoughts and Prayers

Support the affected community

Shut up about responsible gun control

More thoughts and prayers

Move on with our lives

Let’s pause for a second, think about the latest victims (ages 25, 13 and 6 years old), and ask ourselves a few questions:

How do we at least slow these tragedies down? What DOES work? What would Jesus do? What would YOUR God do? What does it mean to “stand with” an affected community? If we aren’t asking these questions and searching for real solutions, we are worse than numb.

John Young