Wiser thinking

NRA rep Wayne LaPierre- "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun". This was part of the National Rifle Association's response to the CT shooting; a statement supporting the proposal to put armed officers in all schools.

So, let me get this straight- we make guns, the bad guys get the guns...therefore all of us good guys need guns too?! We have to be thinking much HIGHER than this. We are smarter than this. WE ARE WISER than this! The greatest movements in peace were made by non-violent strategies. We must look at our greatest teachers of this- people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King. How would they go about this?

It takes patience, compassion, and a look from many angles at our culture and politics. The solution won't be in just one avenue. It's not just guns, not just mental health, but in both these areas and more. If we take a step back and look at everything that contributes to the violence, put our heads and hearts together, and start moving in a direction of compassionate education, then there is hope.

In an effort to be productive, I suggest we brainstorm. Here's my first thought-

As someone who went through the L.A. public school system I look back and realize how much useless information was stuffed down my throat. I was given tons of busy work and memorized details for tests that I couldn't recall today if my life depended on it. Granted, I did get gems of knowledge and education that served me well, but as an adult I look back and wish there was less busy work, less useless facts, and more emphasis on things that I had to learn the hard way as an adult. It would have served me very well to learn about the mind, about happiness, about wisdom.

The focus of our public education is on mostly intellectual knowledge and little to no education in areas of social interaction, empathy, self analysis, and decision making outside of careers. Maybe we need a little less focus on our minds, and start making room to teach our children to care for their inner selves and for each other.

America would greatly benefit from public school courses in self analysis, social interaction, emotional communication, and open sharing. Perhaps we expect kids to learn these things at home, in their communities, or somewhere else outside of school, but then we are underestimating the depths and complexity of these skills and assuming they are learning things that they are not (at least not to the extent that would make a change). 

Ask yourself- is it more important for the future of humanity to be able to solve an algebraic equation or to solve a human conflict? To have the skills to win a war, or to stop a war before it ever begins? Intellectual knowledge gives us the power to win, but empathy and compassion are aspects of wisdom that give us the knowledge to exist. The latter is a more advanced concept to human survival that our world continuously overlooks or is overshadowed by ego.

Back to Mr. LaPierre's statement, even if putting armed guards in the schools deters some incidents, it doesn't solve the cultural issue. It also doesn't protect movie theaters, malls, and other public places that are getting shot up. We need to get to the core. We need wiser thinking.

The first instinct we have when attacked is to retaliate. It seems (to the primitive human mind) the clear choice of options in order to defend ourselves in order to survive. Let's look into a deeper layer: is there any possibility that the person who attacked us is someone that we could have empathy for? Is this someone who under a different circumstance, at a different time and place, we could have befriended, or even loved? It's hard to see things this way, but I believe there is often, if not always, a truth in there.

"Good guy" and "bad guy" and guns mentality may put a band aid on the situation, but it's not a long term solution. Let's get wise about who we are and what we really want in the long run. Please consider these thoughts deeply in your heart and share from a place of humblest humanity.