When I was a little boy, my mother and father told me to never talk to strangers. Never. Of course, we had the other talk about how babies are made, but I already knew that secret before they told me.
By the time I became a parent, the faces of children began appearing on milk cartons making "stranger danger" breakfast conversation.
What I don't understand is how our older son and his wife will explain school lockdown drills to their young children. Our 3-year-old granddaughter will begin school in about ten days. She's so tiny and innocent and I'm not looking forward to hearing her questions about gun violence. We talk about safety all the time in terms of boo-boos that can really hurt you. But not bullets and gunshot wounds.
Although we've discussed bad people who hurt others, we've never talked about armed attackers. I'm sure there will be a fire drill at school. She understands hot and cold and getting a burn at the stove. We've even talked a little about life and death when she spotted a dead robin on the sidewalk. But not the idea that someone can come into a theater, church, or preschool and savagely shatter lives by slaughtering people, including tiny children. I can't imagine telling her "Your teacher has a gun in case someone comes into the classroom and tries to shoot you and your classmates."
The thought reminds me there are children dodging bullets and bombs in war zones around the world, and parents who seek refuge for their families in other countries.
So, is it time to have that talk with a toddler ... or is it time to change our conversation about gun violence in America?
Sunday, August 26, 2018
Saturday, August 18, 2018
Taste and see.
Today, while driving through an unfamiliar suburban neighborhood near Chicago, I saw peace.
A young girl, perhaps 11 years old, rode her bike, smiling broadly, her hijab furling in the wind. On the next block, an enormous star of David stretched across the brick facade of a synagogue. We had just enjoyed lunch at a Lebanese restaurant, prepared by a chef from Baghdad, who had learned from European chefs while living in Amsterdam. A Syrian Christian woman waited on us, while a 17-year-old South American guy swept the floor. People of all colors from many nations filled this spotless eatery, savoring the flavors, aromas and atmosphere.
A car salesman, the grandson of a Palestinian refugee, suggested the lunch place. He told me he could trace his ancestry to an ancient, tiny village near the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Some of his extended family, who are Muslim, still live there. His boss, a friendly Catholic, explained the rosary tattooed artistically around his forearm. He asked me about the Jerusalem cross on my ring. I told him about my Jewish friend who located a craftsman to engrave it. This jeweler chose a Muslim surgeon to perform a very delicate procedure on his back.
Despite the turmoil, tension and tragedy that fills the 24-hour-news cycle, ordinary people with powerful differences, enjoy swapping stories and celebrating the things they share every day.
It's a beautiful thing to experience peace in action. Thousands of years ago, the psalmist, David, sang it this way, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm 34:9). On this day, it genuinely felt like God was among these people, alive and joyful nourishing their serenity. Food never tasted this good.
Sunday, August 12, 2018
Counting The Children
The typewriter sat like a lonely sentry under the window to nowhere with a single page of newsprint on the roll. That day, there was one name with age and address typed across the paper. It was the basic identification of the latest recorded homicide victim in the "Murder City." Detroit had earned that title in the 1970's and early 1980's by leading the nation in reported annual murders.
It was 1977, and I was in the press room at Detroit Police Headquarters, 1300 Beaubien Street back in the day. This was my junior year as an electronic journalism student at Wayne State University. Public Affairs Reporting put me in the cop house for three weeks, the city county building for three more and the courts for the balance. I covered colorful debates at Detroit's legendary city council, murder trials where defendants stared down witnesses, and I wrote a feature piece on a remarkably talented police artist who recreated the faces of suspects. Our assignment was to turn in several stories each week for the entire term. The best lessons were learned on the beat.
And if you were in the press room at police headquarters, even if you were just a student, you were expected to type and record the identity of any victim, when public information officer, Sargent Fred Williams, hustled in with the info. The local reporters were sharing duty of tallying the list of the dead, to accurately tabulate a total.
This week, I heard from two relatives who live in Detroit asking me about the insane spike in shootings in Chicago, where last week 66 people were shot and 12 killed. My wife and I live in the Windy City now. So do our two sons, our daughter-in-law who is expecting, and our darling granddaughter. Chicago had 750 murders in 2016 and is awaiting official FBI totals from 2017. Truth is, Baltimore and Detroit are still considered statistically more murderous, despite lower totals, because their populations are smaller. They report more murders per 100,000 than Chicago, Philadelphia, Nashville, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Houston and New York City. But when 66 people are shot in a week, a city instantly jumps to the front of the headlines.
Why are we so violent, with so many more gun killings than other industrialized nations? That would take too many chapters and interviews to answer journalistically. But I can scratch the surface on something just as important: the impact this kind of violence has on the next generation.
I met a man recently who mentors in one of the most violent communities in the nation, on Chicago's South Side. He grew up in the neighborhood where he now serves. He inspires me because he hasn't forgotten his community, now that his life is better. And he said something that has been haunting me.
Imagine for a moment you are a child. You're in middle school or high school. You see five or six kids murdered in your community each year. If you lived in the suburbs, you'd receive special counseling if just one kid were shot in your neighborhood. But not in this one. You grow up wondering if you'll make it to see your thirtieth birthday.
These at-risk kids don't choose to live where they do. And their mentor is doing his best to guide them through the maze of jeopardy. What can we do to help?
Jesus said: "Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them: for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14)
While we're counting the number of lives lost to violence, we need to include those who live on, wounded by the trauma. Heaven knows we need to save them, no matter where they live.
It was 1977, and I was in the press room at Detroit Police Headquarters, 1300 Beaubien Street back in the day. This was my junior year as an electronic journalism student at Wayne State University. Public Affairs Reporting put me in the cop house for three weeks, the city county building for three more and the courts for the balance. I covered colorful debates at Detroit's legendary city council, murder trials where defendants stared down witnesses, and I wrote a feature piece on a remarkably talented police artist who recreated the faces of suspects. Our assignment was to turn in several stories each week for the entire term. The best lessons were learned on the beat.
And if you were in the press room at police headquarters, even if you were just a student, you were expected to type and record the identity of any victim, when public information officer, Sargent Fred Williams, hustled in with the info. The local reporters were sharing duty of tallying the list of the dead, to accurately tabulate a total.
This week, I heard from two relatives who live in Detroit asking me about the insane spike in shootings in Chicago, where last week 66 people were shot and 12 killed. My wife and I live in the Windy City now. So do our two sons, our daughter-in-law who is expecting, and our darling granddaughter. Chicago had 750 murders in 2016 and is awaiting official FBI totals from 2017. Truth is, Baltimore and Detroit are still considered statistically more murderous, despite lower totals, because their populations are smaller. They report more murders per 100,000 than Chicago, Philadelphia, Nashville, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Houston and New York City. But when 66 people are shot in a week, a city instantly jumps to the front of the headlines.
Why are we so violent, with so many more gun killings than other industrialized nations? That would take too many chapters and interviews to answer journalistically. But I can scratch the surface on something just as important: the impact this kind of violence has on the next generation.
I met a man recently who mentors in one of the most violent communities in the nation, on Chicago's South Side. He grew up in the neighborhood where he now serves. He inspires me because he hasn't forgotten his community, now that his life is better. And he said something that has been haunting me.
Imagine for a moment you are a child. You're in middle school or high school. You see five or six kids murdered in your community each year. If you lived in the suburbs, you'd receive special counseling if just one kid were shot in your neighborhood. But not in this one. You grow up wondering if you'll make it to see your thirtieth birthday.
These at-risk kids don't choose to live where they do. And their mentor is doing his best to guide them through the maze of jeopardy. What can we do to help?
Jesus said: "Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them: for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14)
While we're counting the number of lives lost to violence, we need to include those who live on, wounded by the trauma. Heaven knows we need to save them, no matter where they live.
Sunday, August 5, 2018
Good hands.
I told you so.
Since the Parkland High School shooting, I've been dedicating this weekly blog to unraveling the truth in America's gun debate. In that pursuit, I've published a few posts on the grease that lubricates all business, the cost of risk-taking, more commonly called liability insurance. For months now, I've predicted it would be underwriters who would turn the tide in this national debate.
It's happening.
You can't buy a car or mortgage a home without insurance. Nor can you rationally operate a business without liability coverage. Right now, media reports say the National Rifle Association (NRA) can't get coverage because the state of New York is pressuring insurers to deny it to the NRA. Lenders are also listening to New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, and his campaign to hobble the NRA by cutting off its liquidity. In fact, the NRA has sighted these issues in a suit against the state of New York. Some are reporting the organization may declare bankruptcy due to these pressures.
So, I believe it's no coincidence that the gun rights group took a shocking stand this week. It is arguing against the position of a Florida shooter in an incident involving that state's "stand your ground" law. There's pressure building on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the incident and Florida legislators are discussing revising the law. All because a man licensed to carry a concealed weapon recently shot and killed another man who had pushed him to the ground in a convenience store parking lot. I shared this event last week. Video from security cameras shows the pushy shopper was actually protecting his girlfriend from the aggressive guy who had approached her vehicle and started an argument over a handicapped parking spot. The sheriff ruled that according to Florida law, the gunman had a right to "stand his ground" when pushed. He then referred the case to the state's attorney to decide. But what about the man's right to protect his girlfriend and their young children in the family car? Did a shove from an unarmed man justify a fatal shot to his chest?
Who would ever imagine that the NRA would side with the person NOT carrying the gun? Probably wouldn't happen as long as they could cover their behinds with insurance. But their support of risky laws like "stand your ground" statutes in nearly half the state's makes the pro-gun club liable for death and damages. And that could be too expensive for those who lend them money or cover their gun business bets. In turn, the NRA cannot afford to offer deals on liability insurance to its members who own guns.
By the way, MGM Resorts, the owners of the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay where a madman killed 58 in 2017, are suing more than 1,000 victims. Incredibly, they've taken this action in an attempt to shed their massive liability. Imagine the cost to them if they lose that suit.
You see, when the risk of losing insurance money is greater than the passion to profit from guns, then Congress and state legislatures will enact common sense gun reform. The Bible says, "The love of money is the root of all evil." (1 Timothy 6:10). And those with pockets deep enough to insure your risk are not in the business of losing what they love.
I told you so. We're in good hands.
Since the Parkland High School shooting, I've been dedicating this weekly blog to unraveling the truth in America's gun debate. In that pursuit, I've published a few posts on the grease that lubricates all business, the cost of risk-taking, more commonly called liability insurance. For months now, I've predicted it would be underwriters who would turn the tide in this national debate.
It's happening.
You can't buy a car or mortgage a home without insurance. Nor can you rationally operate a business without liability coverage. Right now, media reports say the National Rifle Association (NRA) can't get coverage because the state of New York is pressuring insurers to deny it to the NRA. Lenders are also listening to New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, and his campaign to hobble the NRA by cutting off its liquidity. In fact, the NRA has sighted these issues in a suit against the state of New York. Some are reporting the organization may declare bankruptcy due to these pressures.
So, I believe it's no coincidence that the gun rights group took a shocking stand this week. It is arguing against the position of a Florida shooter in an incident involving that state's "stand your ground" law. There's pressure building on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the incident and Florida legislators are discussing revising the law. All because a man licensed to carry a concealed weapon recently shot and killed another man who had pushed him to the ground in a convenience store parking lot. I shared this event last week. Video from security cameras shows the pushy shopper was actually protecting his girlfriend from the aggressive guy who had approached her vehicle and started an argument over a handicapped parking spot. The sheriff ruled that according to Florida law, the gunman had a right to "stand his ground" when pushed. He then referred the case to the state's attorney to decide. But what about the man's right to protect his girlfriend and their young children in the family car? Did a shove from an unarmed man justify a fatal shot to his chest?
Who would ever imagine that the NRA would side with the person NOT carrying the gun? Probably wouldn't happen as long as they could cover their behinds with insurance. But their support of risky laws like "stand your ground" statutes in nearly half the state's makes the pro-gun club liable for death and damages. And that could be too expensive for those who lend them money or cover their gun business bets. In turn, the NRA cannot afford to offer deals on liability insurance to its members who own guns.
By the way, MGM Resorts, the owners of the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay where a madman killed 58 in 2017, are suing more than 1,000 victims. Incredibly, they've taken this action in an attempt to shed their massive liability. Imagine the cost to them if they lose that suit.
You see, when the risk of losing insurance money is greater than the passion to profit from guns, then Congress and state legislatures will enact common sense gun reform. The Bible says, "The love of money is the root of all evil." (1 Timothy 6:10). And those with pockets deep enough to insure your risk are not in the business of losing what they love.
I told you so. We're in good hands.
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