My heart absolutely breaks for the parents and families of the 20 children killed in Connecticut today. The grief must be absolutely unimaginable. It is hard to deny that these mass shooting events have been on the rise for the last fifteen years. Just this week there was another mass shooting at a mall in Washington state. There have been 9 mass shootings in the US since January, 2011, according to Think Progress.
We, as a nation, are to blame for these tragedies. We acquiesced. We allowed our elected officials to systematically dismantle the nation's mental health facilities. Counseling facilities and inpatient mental health facilities have been closed, one by one over the last 15 years or so. Funding has been withdrawn. The Medicaid rolls have been cut. And this is the result. This is what happens when we lose compassion, when we tell people to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." Unfortunately, there are people in our society whose boot straps just aren't strong enough to hold them up. They snap.
If you really want to help prevent these tragedies, if you really want to see "meaningful action" taken, as President Obama called for today, demand that your government begin reinstating our mental health system. We must provide in-patient care for those who are too unstable to function on their own, or who need more extensive therapies than can be provided with outpatient care. We must provide outpatient care, free of charge, to those who need it and cannot afford it.
Call your representative. Call your senator. Write to them. Write letters for the editor of your local paper. Call on them to provide funding for mental health treatment. And if you know someone who has been struggling with depression or sadness, take a moment from the constant hustle and bustle of your life to call them up and tell them how important they are in your life. That they mean something to you. That you love them.
And keep the families of those 28 victims today in your prayers. God knows, they need it.
