"I am devastated. Sick to my stomach. He never went in."
- Sheriff Scott Israel
About five minutes ago I read on the BBC that Mr. Peterson, a security guard armed with protecting the Parkland, Florida high school did nothing.
He was armed.
In uniform.
On duty.
He was aware of the shooting, heard the shots, saw students running, and did nothing. Instead of running towards the enemy who was destroying the innocent lives of those he was charged with protecting, he did nothing.
I have no words.
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing is worth war, is much worse. The man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
-John Stuart Mill
This Mr. Peterson has single-handedly done more to undermine American society and values than all the school shootings of the past century. Yes, they wrecked lives and their shock waves were felt through our entire nation, the pictures of Columbine are seared into our memory, the constant fear that our school will be next, all these things have come about as a result of these shootings. But these are nothing compared to what this man has done.
This man stood by while he knew innocents were dying. My full and sincerest apologies to his family for their heartache, but this man failed. His task was easy. He knew a shooter was in the building. He had been trained for this. He had no excuse.
He took the fear and uncertainty that these shootings had been sowing, and when given the opportunity to alleviate them, to give us some hope that good Americans would step up and fight evil to protect the ones who are still learning what it means to live, and he just stared at it blankly.
As far as I know at this point, he has no other motive except fear. He simply didn't want to do his job.
I truly don't know what else to say. He just didn't care. He didn't value these kids' lives. He didn't even want them to die, he just didn't care. The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference.
This shows us that it doesn't matter whether you have a gun or not. It matters where your heart is and whether you value human life that has been created in the image of God. The football coach who took bullets didn't need a gun, but had he had one, the tragedy would have been far less. And this sorry excuse of a man would still be hanging around. Firearms are a tool. They are only as good or as evil as the hand that wields them. Does this mean we should remove all of the tools? No. It means we have a much bigger problem. If they do not have guns, they will use fertilizer.
The problem is the heart. Until you decide that other are more important, that human life created in the Image of God has value, and until you decide that there are infinitely more important things than you stealing a few more years of your joyless existence here of earth, there will always be a problem.
There are two things that enable a man to throw his life down for another. The first is stupidity.
The second is love. Love is a positive virtue, not a negative one. Note that I am not saying selflessness. I am saying love. The kind of love that cares deeply for the guy who just cut you off when you're late to the funeral, when his bumper stickers are enraging you, when he casually flicks his cigarette butt out the window, seemingly not caring, hardly even realizing he cut you off. It's seeing that car crash because he was drunk driving, watching flames dash our from under the hood, knowing that the gas tank will explode before you can get him out, and running towards him anyway. It is a love that surpasses all understanding.
Until we understand and posses this love, we are at the mercy of whatever evil is thrown at us, or grown here at home. Love your sons, that they will become men. Love your daughters, that they will become women. Love your fathers, that they will become great councilors and mighty warriors. Love your mothers, that they will become towers of beauty, grace, and wisdom. Love your brother, that he will love his. Love your sister, that she will love hers. Love your wife, that she will be cherished. Love your husband, that he will be respected. Love your students, that they will become learners, readers, dreamers, and magic-bean-buyers. Love your teachers, that their wisdom may grace us till stars rain down from the heavens. Love your classmates, that they may come into their own.
If we do not love, we will either hate, or pine away in apathetic meaninglessness which offers neither rest nor comfort. Pick a side, and I beg of you, choose love. What is love? The Gospel of Christ.