“We made the news! π ” << That’s the first line of one of several Facebook posts from Hope Presbyterian Church when they decided to display 21 small classroom chairs on their front lawn for the 21 victims of the horrendous mass school shooting in Uvalde.
Did they start a collection for the victims? I don’t know. But they made the news.
Did they reach out to the victims families to ask them what they needed? I don’t know. But they made the news.
Did they create anything worthwhile to actually help the victims? I don’t know. But they made the news.
You know, I have mixed feelings about this display. They sat out some chairs from their classrooms, printed off the victims names and placed them in plastic protective coverings and then adhered them to the chairs. Okay. Now what?
But they made the news.
I watched the little news clip they linked to from WHNT channel 19. They said they invited, and hoped, the public would come by to sit in one of the chairs to contemplate, pray, and weep. They said it is a memorial to the 21 victims.
But I guess that’s “doing something.”
This temporary memorial is very close to where I live, I drive by it all the time. I’ve not yet seen anyone go and sit in one of the chairs to pray and weep. Now, I want to feel something good for this but my general thought is that this is nothing but a bad display of moral correctness.
So I guess I’m going to be the bad person, here, by calling this out. I can appreciate the thought behind the gesture but what is it really doing? Did it do anything except make the reverend and her parishioners feel better about themselves? But they made the news.
If one wants to actually help and “do something” for the victims, reach out to them and ask; donate either your time or money. Don’t “do something” that is going to make YOU feel better about yourself.
It looks like someone from the Texas Tribune has actually done something by getting to know the victims and their families. Check out the article here, within the article it has other links to how you can help.
Too often, these tragic events become nothing more than a sound bite in everyone’s pursuit of drawing attention to either themselves or a political agenda.
A tribute or honor to someone shouldn’t seek sensationalism. It should just be. If it receives recognition, so be it. Call out the attention in a way to benefit the victims.
I agree with you. What is the intent if the emphasis becomes, “we made the news?” What agenda did that serve?
Did it create interest in strengthening family values, or addressing the fact that families are not catching instances of mental illness before a loved one snaps? Did it address the lack of morals or accountability in so many facets of today’s society and family life, that incidents of evil continue to happen?
More likely than not, the attention will be used to vilify a highly visible, scary, and mislabeled object, or deminish the rights and freedoms of good, honest, law abiding citizens; While the festering rot at the core of the issue is blindly ignored.
Hi! Thanks for stopping by to read AND leave a comment. Sorry I didn’t approve it earlier, I should have been checking more regularly. Your points are great ones and ones I wish I had brought up too.