A Cry for Help: The Intersection of Gun Violence & Mental Health

The U.S. has witnessed yet another shooting with the most recent, tragic events in Nashville, TN at the Covenant School. Three students and three adults were killed. There have been at least 131 mass shootings in 2023, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. As if there was not enough death and despair for Americans to cope with and, hopefully, overcome. This senseless devaluing of human life must stop! So many of us have fallen into this place of complete and utter disregard for not only one’s own life, but that of our neighbor’s. Citizens are killing citizens in a manner that demonstrates a pandemic disease the nature of which is incalculable and extraordinarily inconceivable in its tragedy.

It is clear a great majority of us are not fulfilling our civic and/or spiritual responsibilities, as society’s “ill and neglected souls” continue to plague our children, students, parents, mothers, fathers, clergy, and so many others with perpetual acts of violence (gun violence especially) and destruction. The conscious observer could easily assume that “the ill and neglected” might even live within our homes — sitting at the kitchen table, playing video games in the living room amongst their family. However, we do not pay the proper time or attention to it — it’s right there growing in its magnitude and severity, but a lot of us are asleep at the wheel. The lonely, disenchanted, disenfranchised, mentally ill, and simply, “lost,” are crying out with unmitigated despair, only to be met by our seemingly calm indifference. Tragically, we appear to be in a slumber of sorts — walking around in our own self-consumption and involvement; ignoring all the signs and symptoms of a significant portion of our populace suffering from mental health crisis and abandonment.

To be clear, there are many examples of those conscious and aware shepherds of time, care and attention to those suffering. They are on the front lines of parenting, caregiving, counseling, healthcare public policy-making, love, time and attention for those crying out for help. Thank you to all those angels! You are extraordinary and the rest of us should be incredibly grateful, for if it was not for you all, we just might have experienced even more innocent loss of life in our precious communities. The point here is that the rest of us, and we are a majority, must follow this example by waking up from our “sleepwalk” so that we may no longer ignore and disengage from our “lost ones.” They are screaming too loudly to ignore anymore.

While this narrative may be a tough and bitter pill to swallow, most things that are good for us do not necessarily taste great. Is this societal violence not a product delivered to our doorsteps from our own factory of self-involvement? How many times do you look the other way or pass by individuals and situations that you know are not right and downtrodden? How many times have our healthcare professionals and insurers relegated the mentally ill and the mental health profession meant to treat them??Mental health is primary care?and should be of primary focus and attention. PTSD and abuse is real and we continually underestimate its dangerous power and influence on our lives — you only need to watch the news to witness the devastation it yields. We continue to sleepwalk past them, as if these real and impactful conditions will magically self-correct.

As citizens of this great Earth, and the children of a Higher Power (if you dare choose to believe and have faith in such, as I do), we are compelled to do more for those outside of our immediate selves and loved ones. After all, we share this land with many others — others who as one or many impact us in immeasurable ways. The nature and trajectory of that “impact” is in our hands and our hands alone, and at this very moment, and for the foreseeable future, it is wreaking havoc on our modern day way of life — feasting on our apathy. The time is now for our leaders that represent every corner of industry, politics, religion, philanthropy, education, sports, and all other spheres of influence to fully acknowledge and embrace the fact we are in peril and it is your responsibility to set the course for true healing and stewardship. Now more than ever, we appear to have so many of our brothers and sisters who are broken, neglected, confused, and conflicted. They are in identity crisis; searching for their life meaning and purpose.

Congress and other Public Servants?— we the people of this Nation you work for (yes, you work for us and our public interest, not the “special interest”) call on you for true leadership — a leadership of altruistic action and agenda-less intent.?Clergy?— hear our call for spiritual cleansing and enrichment amongst yourselves and your flock — they need you!?Healthcare Professionals and Insurers?— seek profit from putting the patient and individual first, and place your bottom lines somewhere north of reckless avarice — this is the soulful mission of care. Hatred and acts of violence stem from us passing each other in the hallways of our offices and streets of our communities without acknowledgement or the gesture of a greeting, interest and kindness. We are all culpable — some to greater degrees than others. The problem is not a gun. The problem is not a bullet. The problem is not the truck or car plowing into a crowd. All these things, and more, are symptomatic tools being used by those drowning in the deep end of insufferable pain, sorrow, and despair. A significant part of the problem might very well be a great many of us (myself included) — those with the power and the spiritual wherewithal to lift up, support, and hold onto the lost souls that have been right in front of us calling for help, only to be denied by indifference, prejudice, unconscious bias, greed, and self-consumption. The fact of the matter is that we have, to a large extent, created the monster we all must face and take down with great care and renewed purpose — Now!

It is “call time” and if we do not show up, we may face — and our children may face an insurmountable force that no member of the human race can practically or realistically defeat. Let us stop our slumber walk past each other, and wake up to a new day that we forge to turn the tide of violence against each other — a day where innocent victims (especially our children) are no longer, because of the level of love and peace we were able to engender in the name of one another as human beings.