Tag: Newtown shooting

A Somber Christmas

~ K ~ Leave a comment

It’s Christmas time again, and I managed to get through the season without shedding a single tear for my father. It’s the first time in 11 years since he died that I haven’t cried during the time he passed away. His death always hung like a cloud over the holiday season for me, and for some strange reason, that cloud has finally lifted. But today, I think of the families of Newtown, Connecticut who are missing their little ones whom they used to celebrate with. It’s a somber Christmas for them, filled with tears, sadness, and emptiness for the loved one that has now departed.

John 11:35 applies to this day: “Jesus wept.” It’s probably the shortest sentence in the Bible, but also the most profound. On Christmas, as many Christians think of Jesus being the reason for the season, we are also called to follow the Bible’s teaching to “mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15). Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). The Bible says in Psalm 34:18 that the “LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” During this difficult, difficult season (and it always will be for these families), as a community mourns, let us lift up Newtown, CT in prayer and remembrance.

 

 

Newtown, Connecticut and Body Image Issues

~ K ~ Leave a comment

Last week, there was a horrible shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. This should be the requisite post about how we need more gun control. Here are twelve facts on guns and mass shootings in the United States provided by the Washington Post. But I don’t have any ideas on how to get stricter gun control laws. According to the eleven facts from the WaPo, the killers obtained their guns legally. How do you restrict that? According the second amendment, people have the right to bear arms in the United States. How does one tighten the laws on guns? Do we have potential gun buyers jump through mental evaluation hoops to ensure the safety of other citizens? As a person who has struggled with mental illness, I should not be allowed to own a gun. Knowing my father who had struggled with mental illness, I would not have wanted him to own a gun.

There is no easy answer to gun control concerns. I would not want to take away the rights of citizens to own guns, but something needs to be done to ensure the rights of others are protected.

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I’ve been thinking about my own body and my struggle with weight and lack of exercise. It’s clear that I need to exercise to stay healthy. I am a size 14. I’m not quite plus size but I don’t want to get much bigger.

Then I thought about the body image issues sprung upon me by my family and society. I grew up being one of the skinny kids, only having dealt with body image issues within the past 10 years. And I wonder if I let too many other people define me. I’m a little overweight with some pudge around the middle, but why should that define my self-worth or the way I see myself? Attempting to get skinny is a fleeting goal, one that I do not have the discipline to attain.