The horror of yesterday’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas is beyond words. 19 children and 2 adults have been killed. Others are injured and all traumatized. Schools should be places of safety and nurturing, places for the joys and challenges of learning and growth, for rich relationships among students and teachers. I am amazed by and so grateful for the local first responders and teachers who acted quickly to protect all the students and faculty they could. We share in the profound grief of the families in Uvalde and pray for the embrace of community and the wider circles of the human family to hold them, rocked by tragedy. My prayer for them, in the words of Psalm 147, is that in this place of shattering, that they be consoled by the Divine presence who “heals their broken hearts, and binds up their wounds.”
It is also my prayer, my commitment to spiritual practice and to social change that as we witness the rising regularity of gun violence and mass shootings in the US, as we witness the deepening sickness in society, revealing itself with horrific consequences, that we bring fortitude and diligence to the actions, practices and commitments that attend to inner healing and mental health, that attend to mutual support, justice and peace, and that strengthen the laws and systems to prevent gun violence.
I am available to you for support.
These are two valuable resources to support parents speaking with your children about the shooting –
For Survivors of School Shootingsby Alden Solovy (tobendlight.com)
O grief beyond consolation,
Release your grip
On the survivors of terror in our schools,
The witnesses of this violence,
And the families of the slain.
You who have endured this grievous loss,
You who have mourned and lamented,
Surely sorrow pierced your heart
When murder raged,
Staining your memory red with blood.
Let love bind your wounds.
Let tears soothe your soul.
Let your life be a tribute
To the memory of the lost.
G-d of compassion,
Heal the broken-hearted,
Comfort the bereft,
And bring solace to the hearts of the bereaved.
Make a swift end to the scourge of terror in our schools,
And let the souls of the innocent
Rest in peace.