The Downside to “Back to Normal”

This past week has been a tough one. We watched in sorrow as two more massshootings rocked our country. The emotional roller coaster that we have been on over the past year has continued: the optimistic high of so many now able to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and then the terrible low of the loss of life from gun violence. But while mass shootings are extremely jarring, we have to remember that on average, 211 people in the U.S. die every day from gun violence, including an average of 9 children (source: HCUPnet). These stories may or may not even make the news in their local areas. Unlike Coronavirus, the public health epidemic of gun violence doesn't have the hope of herd immunity. Regardless of our politics and how each of us feels the problem can begin to be remedied, I know we can all agree that it is just too much loss. 

We've all been looking forward to getting "back to normal," but it is easy to idealize our "normal". This, sadly, is a part of our country's normal. For the families of those lost in the two mass shootings and the other hundreds of shootings across the country this week, what they knew as normal will not return. While my heart breaks for them and for those who have lost loved ones by any cause this year, I am thankful to have a God who loves each and every life and says to those families, "As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you." (Isaiah 66:13a). Let us pray for them this week, and for a future that consists of a much better normal.

—Julie T., UMW President