On Sunday night, the community of Santa Clarita and surrounding areas mourned the losses from the recent shooting Saugus High at an evening vigil. As the healing process moves forward, questions will be asked as a part of the process, and invariably the question of why will again be asked.
The question of how to stop such tragedies from happening again will be pondered. The debate surrounding proposed solutions will wage.
What if instead of repeating the same futility that ensues after each such horrific act, we as a society decide to do something fundamentally different?
Rather than debate what continues to be ineffectual, what if we choose to effect change and infuse hope into the lives of our young people, rather than hopelessness?
What if we radically change the message of apathy that floods our society with one of values about which we can care deeply?
What if instead of conveying uncertainty, ambiguity and defeat, we communicate meaning, purpose and a future?
In nearly every direction that one turns the outlook painted is dismal.
Society is fractured and divided, lacking any little commonality and unity nearly every sociological institution is failing.
Families are falling apart.
Education tells us that human life is insignificant, the world is doomed, and rejects historical, scientific, and objective truths. Religion has been abandoned for its imperfections.
Economies are unsustainable and government is synonymous with corruption and abuse of power, having lost all semblance of rightful authority, rule of law, and offering reprieve from anarchy.
In light of such hopelessness, is it really any wonder when young people see no reason to live? What are we teaching our children?
At what point do we finally decry the fact that what they are learning is having a disastrous effect upon them and their choices?
Could this be the event?
Will the blessing that is family be treasured and not mocked in entertainment or pretzeled into some second-rate knock-off that will only crumble?
Will the lens and perspective of rightfully viewing history and the scientific method be brought into focus and the cloud of revisionism and pseudo-science be lifted?
Will individual and corporate responsibility be required for functional market transactions, contracts to be honored, and one’s word again having meaning for a restoration of trust among members of society?
Will authority again be respected and an expectation of that authority to behave honorably upheld?
Will we again look to the Creator who has endowed us with our values and evident truths?
While driving out of the Santa Clarita Valley last night, there was a road sign lit by the side of the freeway that read simply, “Pray for Saugus High.”
So often, that phrase has been derided after horrific events, but what if it really is that simple?
Rather than looking to us to fix the failed human sociological institutions, we look for healing from One who is capable of effecting the change that we clearly are so unable to bring about on our own.
In so doing, we see that such reliance is really what makes Saugus Strong.
In Santa Clarita there has been at least a glimmer of such strength, comfort, and seedlings of hope planted.
Out of this devastation, many in the community recognize that the antidote to hopelessness is a sustainable faith in the One who has long been rejected and the values that He offers in His word -— the truth that every human life is precious and priceless, offering a hope that can grow in hearts to overcome the bitter apathy and waves of despair that have been crashing for too long.
Now comes the question of for how long might these seedlings grow and if something stronger, something that truly is Saugus Strong, will rise up from these ashes.
Karen Roseberry is a former Santa Clarita resident who lives in Palmdale.
