Like the rest of the country, we at the Ruth Institute mourn the loss of innocent human life at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, CT. At this time, no one really knows very much about the killer, his motives, or the stability of his mind. We do know that his own mother is among the dead. We don’t really know what might have been done differently, either at the personal level or the policy level, to have avoided this ghastly event.
For the time being, we intend to maintain a respectful silence about policy proposals. We encourage all decent people to do likewise. As our country lurches from one disaster to another, one tragedy to another, we would like to avoid the unnecessary blaming of one another.
For now, we would like to say that we believe that every human life is sacred. We deplore the deliberate taking of innocent human life. We weep with the families of all the deceased, the families of the innocent victims as well as the family of the killer himself. We pray that all the families will be surrounded by the deepest kind of Christian charity, and will be comforted by Christian hope. I am sure I speak for all the members of the Ruth Institute extended family in saying that we hold the families of the dead in our prayers.
There will be time enough later for analysis, policy-making and accountability.