There is a phrase among us: He ought to be shot.
Pause, if you will, and realize this phrase contributes to gun violence, and might be contributing to all the mass shootings we are having.
He ought to be shot? Let me give you another one, one you've probably used yourself:
Let him rot in hell.
Or, how about this one: He deserves everything he gets.
Such phrases teach hate. They teach that some people deserve our hatred. Ultimately, they teach us that some people ought to die.
I hope you die. There is another one.
We ought to make a list of these phrases, stamp them in our mindsets, and resolve never to use them.
Here is the danger: When we start teaching that some people are worthy of death, we start teaching that killing them might be justified. Now, different people will pick different people as being unworthy of life. Some might just pick out the Osama bin Ladens of the world. Others will pick the gays and lesbians. Others will pick police officers, and others, Muslims. Then, there are home invaders; Who would ever say they should not be shot?
Everyone will have their idea of who ought to die.
So, if we would justify murder, we would begin by teaching that some people are worthy of death.
If we, as a society, would reflect on the thought that what we teach, is what we become, we would realize that the gun violence and mass shootings are not entirely out of our blame. We teach death, and someone listens and picks out someone they think as being unworthy of life.
And kills them.
Perhaps our idle words have more effect than we give them credit for having.
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