Paul StuligrossThe Orlando night club incident was one of the most horrific tragedies in this country’s history. But as bad as those images were, what I really didn’t care to see was how politicians or others would use it as an opportunity to politicize, fear monger or usher in a new era of political correctness, all on the backs of those who suffered.
I broke that fast earlier than I vowed to, and I wasn’t disappointed. People began arguing how it was all the guns’ fault, all Muslims’ fault, or all Christians’ fault, and just like that … “poof” … I was transported from concern for the victims, to the blame game again. Much of that came from the public, but some of it came from politicians. It made me wonder how far we have drifted from the “Greatest Generation.”
It seems like that generation had something we don’t — the sense that amidst the most arduous times, God was still in control, and in the end good would win. The problem today is that our culture’s moral compass is so twisted we don’t know what good is anymore.
The difference between the fight of the Greatest Generation and the one we face today is that they knew who their enemy was. Ours is more of an ideology. When we hear of incidents such as the Orlando massacre, it leads to fear.
What we do with that fear says a lot about us as a people. Yet Christ reminds us to fear not; a tall task, but one that’s been met before. The Greatest Generation made it through difficult times, but it wasn’t for lack of fear. And one thing they weren’t afraid to do was bring God into the public square. During those times, it seemed as though the media were more willing to follow the sentiments of its audience rather than trying to steer them.
The first thing necessary in facing any problem is identifying the problem as it is — not tip-toeing around it for fear of offending somebody. The Orlando shooter identified himself as a radical Islamic terrorist. Period. And reports are pouring in that a number of people saw him acting suspiciously before he fired the first shot, but failed to report it out of fear of being labeled a “bigot.”
This tumultuous culture of death in which we live shrouds our ability to see clearly. With the onslaught of negative news coverage, we see kids die, evil win, and explanations by experts that rarely, if ever, blame the absence of God for any of it. The question of evil has been pondered for generations. It either exists because God doesn’t, or because our culture, media, and government have “shown God the door.”
St. Augustine once wrote: “Faith is to believe what you do not see. The reward of faith is to see what you believe.” It’s hard to find God amidst evil. Perhaps if our culture populated itself with God, evil would find itself too crowded to exist. Christ promised to be with us until the end of time. God tells us He cherishes us as a loving parent. Either those statements are true, or they’re not. I choose to believe God meant what He said. We can live with the tenet that “everything happens for a reason,” or we can introduce the prospect that “God can bring reason out of everything that happens.” There is a difference.
The other day, one of my daughters asked me why God would allow something like this Orlando tragedy to happen. All I could say was, “I don’t know.” Then I let her see me drop to my knees and ask God the same question.
We must pray, encourage each other, and have the courage to call out evil for what it is before we can defeat it. In the meantime, I’ll post a few more pictures of my kids having fun on their summer break, and pray for the ones who have lost theirs in Orlando.
Paul Stuligross is director of campus ministry at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Preparatory and is a former police officer.
