No. 287 - THERE ARE NO WINNERS IN A SCHOOL SHOOTING

No. 287
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
THERE ARE NO WINNERS IN A SCHOOL SHOOTING

The American clergyman and editor Lyman Abbott once said, “A child is a beam of sunlight from the Infinite and Eternal, with possibilities of virtue and vice, but as yet unstained.” As a parent with grown children and school age grandchildren this is only one of many reasons I get very despondent and sad each time there is yet another shooting at one of our nation’s schools. In the wake of each one we have the so called experts give us a multitude of reasons why it occurred. The list always includes deeply troubled students who are picked on by other students, children from dysfunctional homes, lack of parental involvement, easy access to guns, bloodshed and violence in the electronic media and a whole litany of others.
While all of these reasons may be valid I believe they are only symptoms of a much deeper root problem that will take years to remedy, if ever. The real problem is that we, the American people, have allowed the influence of the Hollywood and Madison Avenue element to completely change the culture of our society. While there are many reasons for this, if you think that I am missing the target I would remind you that we did not have these shootings in our nations schools before the days of television. From my perspective it’s not the bloodshed and violence that is doing the most harm but rather the sexual perversion and innuendoes, almost nude women, bedroom scenes, deep passionate kissing and crude language that is doing the greatest harm to our culture and our young people.
The reason this is true is simple. When acted out in real life there are swift and immediate consequences for violence and bloodshed but not so with most of the activity I just described. I believe the people who are producing these programs and commercials have an agenda that is anti-God and anti-family. They are far removed from the local communities they are impacting and here is where I believe many of us who would like to do something about it are wasting our time. When we call, write or e-mail our congressman we are contacting the wrong people. Congress has proven over and over again that they are not going to do anything about mind pollution. There is far too much money there.
The people who really matter are the presidents and CEO’s of the major corporations who are spending their advertising budgets to sponsor these programs and produce sexually suggestive commercials. The vast majority of our nations business leaders do not have an agenda. They just want to sell more of their products and services. In our society everybody wants to be a winner but there are no winners in a school shooting. We can all take sides on this important issue but I’m here to tell you that I am for the children who are the real victims in this sad state of affairs.
As you know I try not to discuss a problem without at least offering what I think are some possible solutions. As a starting point we need to call, write or e-mail these presidents and CEOs and let them know how we feel about what is happening in our society and the role they may unwittingly play in it.
To the glory of God we are blessed to have almost 250 newspapers and over a million people who read my column each week. I may be wrong but I really believe if these business and industry leaders got from 5,000 to 10,000 letters on this issue we would get their attention. In most cases the address is printed on their products. If enough of us are willing to get involved, we just might be able to make a difference. In my mind this issue has become too paramount to ignore because like I said, there are no winners in a school shooting. Please let me have some feedback from you.(Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)