Helpers or Shooters

I am in San Diego this week for meetings of the National Electrical Code (I hope to have more to say on this in a couple of days). As I got off the plane today, I was behind a fellow carrying a backpack promoting trust in God, alongside a death's-head US flag symbol.

Wow. That dichotomy reminds me of some things I watched on the Southwest Air news this morning.

A lot of the coverage was on the increasing levels of political and religious violence in this country. Bombings of political opponents. Gunning down people engaged in a community of worship.

In the face of that, some of our leaders called, like the backpack above, for more guns, this time in churches. This person's answer to violence is more guns, turning first our schools, and now our churches, into modern-day versions of the OK corral.

A different commentator played a clip from Fred Rogers, in the face of another tragedy. Fred told the story of his mother, talking to him when he was a little boy. When something terrible like this happened, and the young Fred was overwhelmed by the tragedy, she told him to "look for the helpers."

There are always helpers, just like there always seem to be shooters.

Each of us must choose, every day. Will we carry, figuratively and/or literally, more guns? Or will we, figuratively and/or literally, be helpers? None of us (especially me), is ever perfect. But I will always strive to be a helper.