Ashes & Sackcloth

frost on a plantA study was done at the University of Virginia showing that 67% of men and 25% of women would rather endure an electrical shock than to sit alone is silence. Startling, isn’t it?

The school shooting in Florida is now history, and the nation is buzzing with controversy. The students who survived the massacre are saying, “No more.” The NRA is waving its freedom flag. Our President is suggesting possibly arming the teachers to “solve” the “problem.”

Where is the proclamation for a National Day (perhaps Week?) of Mourning this nation should have been in long before another mass shooting left more citizens dead and traumatized? Are we so afraid to grieve together and to tell the truth of the horrors happening in our country? Are we so afraid to look inward and reflect on what we have become individually and collectively?

As I watched some of the students courageously ask poignant questions of their Florida politicians, the audience booing and cheering left me feeling more like I was at a football game, then the grieving this kind of failure to our children should evoke in all of us.

Ashes and sackcloth is a Biblical term; in a nation who claims to “trust in God”, perhaps it is something we should all be doing.

2 thoughts on “Ashes & Sackcloth”

  1. I have read and reread your book the yamas & niyamas I just wanted to say Thank you ! I feel my body changing inside and out. I am a retired marine and never thought I could be kind or have feelings towards mankind. I have seen the dark side of mankind all over the world. But…. your book has helped me to move on from all of the darkness in this world.

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