Mass shootings are always tragic, but somehow especially so when children are involved. The murder of two teachers and 19 second-fourth graders on Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, has shaken our nation and is a reminder that a darkness has fallen on our world.
On Wednesday morning, Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt became emotional when reporting on the shooting.
Earhardt expressed disappointment at how some politicians were using the shooting to advance their initiatives, lamented the deepening political divide in America on many issues and wondered out loud if somehow we all bore some responsibility for the state of our nation.
Injecting a spiritual component into her assessment, Earhardt said:
“I’m just sitting here thinking, you know, you hear the phrase in church…that we all put Jesus on the cross. It wasn’t just one group. We were all guilty in that, because he had to die on the cross for our sins.”
Earhardt continued, “And I think about, is this all of our faults? I mean, as a country, we’re so divided.”
Referencing the growing social unrest in America, Earhardt offered a slight rebuke: “You hate someone else because they vote a different way than you do?”
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Then the consummate professional choked up as she contemplated the shooting and wondered how someone could carry out such a horrific attack.
Earhardt’s daughter is the same age as some of the students in the classroom where the shooting took place. Perhaps identifying with the parents who lost children in the attack, Earhardt said with great emotion in her voice:
“What makes these individuals do this, to pick up a gun and go in and kill our children? Why do we now have to worry about that?”
Showing empathy, Earhardt continued:
“And you think about what these parents are going through, and they’ll never see their kids again, you know? And even if they have three kids, it doesn’t replace the one that they lost. But what about the mom who has one child, and she will never be a grandmother because this man went into these schools and did this?”
Many believe social and political factors played a role in what happened at Robb Elementary school on Tuesday. Theologians point to a spiritual dynamic — an enemy who abides by no rules, comes to “steal, kill and destroy” and is “filled with fury, knowing his time is short.”
President Joe Biden quoted Scripture and offered these words of comfort when addressing the shooting:
“’The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit’…So, tonight, I ask the nation to pray for them, to give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.”
With profound sadness, this writer notes that America has the dubious distinction of leading the world in mass shootings in schools.
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