Man's Inhumanity

By Karlyle Tomms

~ "10-year-old calls 911 while trapped with Uvalde shooter

as law enforcement stands outside..."

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Watching things unfold in Uvalde, Texas, watching politicians scramble to exploit the event for political gain, and realizing the horrific grief and human suffering, that results from “man’s inhumanity to man”, I find myself wondering if anyone is remembering to have compassion for the families who went through the unbearable grief of losing a child, a brother or sister, a grandchild, niece or nephew or friend to such a horrible, senseless act.

I wrote this meme after Hurricane Harvey, after watching people drop what they were doing to help those in need, after watching neighbors helping neighbors and strangers helping strangers without considering race, religion, orientation, or status. We stepped up to our highest potential of true humanity. I wrote this with the observation that we are greatest to each other when we know and empathize with another human being's suffering. Does it have to take a disaster to remind us of that? Does it have to take a tragedy for us to remember that “there, but for the grace of God, go I?"

Stop a moment and think. Yes, gun laws are an issue, the police made mistakes, political agendas are important, but what is most important? Right now, it is compassion for families that have endured the unthinkable. Right now, it is understood that the ripples from the stone plunged into the social pool of Uvalde have spread throughout the world. Right now, it is important to examine our own hearts and minds and realize that attempts to control are the direct result of fear, and that when we are being controlling and attempting to manipulate, for whatever reason, we may be missing the most important point of all, and it is not “thoughts and prayers”, it is genuine compassion and extension of love, even if only within our own hearts, for those who endured and are enduring the most horrible thing that anyone can experience.