Too soon?

I read an article yesterday about a Thai restaurant in Austin that has closed its doors because of protests and death threats made against the owner, following his seriously crass and insensitive Facebook comment about the Sandy Hook shootings. It originally caught my attention simply because I liked that restaurant. But I was surprised that the content left me wrestling. In case you missed it, his comments included:

“I don’t care if a bunch of white kids got killed. F**k Post-Racial bullsh*t. When kids from minority groups get shot, nobody cares. When Israel launched missiles at the school on Gaza, everybody was too busy jerking off. Why should i care about people who dont give a damn about me?”

Like I said, seriously crass and insensitive, especially written hours after the event.

But.

Does anyone else recognize some truth? I was talking through similar feelings with my husband last night, who warned me that they may not be well received. However, I can't seem to shake them.


There is so much violence in the world, in America, every day. Why does this singular event get so much (well deserved) reaction, when school-age minorities in our large cities are no stranger to this type of violence? Or when a school is bombed in Israel? Or when each year, 3,000-5,000 children are killed by partial abortion? Or when each year, nearly 2 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade?


I know why. Because this actually seems real. The other stuff doesn't affect us that much. We can turn a blind eye and go on. But these kids were white, in suburbia. My kid is white. That could have been her school.


I'm probably callused because as an ICU and pediatric oncology nurse, I've seen more children pass away than the average person. But one thing I've learned from seeing this: there are things worse than death. At first I was concerned that I wasn't "as upset as everyone else" about the events on December 14. But then I realized, it wasn't that I wasn't upset. It's that I'm used to being upset. Now, I'm not some holy person who knows and fights all evil. But I at least try to pay attention to local, national, and global problems dealing with injustice. I try and give compassionate care to those who are hurting, through prayer, or physical, emotional, or fiscal help. It's not that I'm against people being outraged at the Sandy Hook shooting, I'm against people NOT being outraged by everything else. This whole thing has been a reminder of the power we have to fight injustices, but just don't.

So America, thank you for your recognition of injustice and evil here. Thank you for rallying to get ABC and Ty Pennington to build Sandy Hook a new school. Thank you for opening your eyes. Now, maybe, we can keep them open and look around a little.