When something like what happened Monday in Madison Wisconsin happens it’s bad enough. Another school shooting.
It was a female student who opened fire with a gun this time…killing two people, a fellow student and a teacher and wounding a half a dozen other students.
According to a tracking of school shootings that has gone on for many years, the shooting in Madison on Monday was the 83rd school shooting this year here in 2024, surpassing 2023 for the most school shootings in a single year since 2008. And the year is not over. And God forbid that there would be another one as we near the celebration of Christmas when we sing about peace on earth and good will toward others.
The fact that Monday’s shooting happened at a Christian school where students pray every day and are holding Christmas programs and talking about what Christmas is all about, might stir us up a little bit more, though any shooting at any school anywhere is equal in its impact on families and communities.
And just like clockwork, sadly, on all the cable news channels there were the usual experts from law enforcement, mental health, schools and politics who offer up explanations, causes and possible answers to the same questions as to why and what we do about these tragedies.
Now as we approach a new year, it brings hope, as it always does, that the year that is beginning will be better than the year that is ending.
That would be a gift that we all would welcome.
(Photo Getty Images)
MADISON, WISCONSIN - DECEMBER 16: Students from Abundant Life Christian School are escorted to a city bus to be reunited with their parents after a school shooting on December 16, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin.