“The danger was not that I should do ill, but that I should do nothing.”

–Montaigne

Not one of us was inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas the day the gunman shot and killed nineteen young students and two teachers. What happened and why are still under investigation by the authorities, who will hopefully get to the bottom of it.

I will say this: I don’t believe those law enforcement officers or their commander got up that morning and went to work thinking they would choose their safety over that of defenseless children. That’s just not what they sign up for; not what they take an oath to do in the performance of their jobs.

That said, we do know, and can all agree, that someone, for whatever reason, elected to do nothing–at least for over an hour. Police officers fully armed stood outside an unlocked classroom door and waited that long before going in and killing the perpetrator.

We know the gunman fired shots from within that classroom while the officers followed orders and stood down. All the children were at threat of bodily injury or death. How many were killed during that hour, we do not know.

The Robb Elementary School shootings, then, serve as a painfully egregious example of what can happen to our children when adults don’t act; when adults choose to do nothing.

In a less dramatic way, some adults in our society have elected to ignore the best interests of children. This was evident during the Covid pandemic when, long after we realized Covid was generally not a pediatric illness and most children who contracted it did well, our kids were locked out of school.

Through the influence and power of the teachers unions, teachers stayed at home much longer than was necessary, and some even refused to return to the classroom once we knew that environment was safe. The result? For so many children, a lost year of education, putting them behind in measures of academic accomplishment, simply because they were not properly schooled from home.

Statistics show an upward tick in adolescent and teen depression and suicidal ideation since early 2020. So, will we now have a new generation of mentally ill children who continue this trend in violence? I certainly hope not.

We’re hurting our children as we begin to accept the legality of the illicit drug marijuana. Even though we know it has deleterious effects on children’s brains, and it can be medically harmful in other ways, too, more and more states are legalizing its use.

And, when we turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to what children are seeing online, or even posting there, we allow some children’s cries for help to go unanswered. How many of these horrific shootings are perpetrated by young males who put out warning signals that they intended to cause harm. But no one listened; no one responded; no one stopped them and provided them the help they needed.

In the Old Testament, Moses, in speaking of the Ten Commandments, told his people to “impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:7 NIV).

In the New Testament, when the disciples rebuked the adults bringing children to Him, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14 NIV).

So there we have it. The two biggest figures of the Jewish and Christian faiths spoke forcefully that our children are to be valued and taught. In so many words, we’re to be involved in the most important things in their lives.

Our children look to the adults in their lives for guidance and love. They crave those things just like a parched desert traveler craves water. And not just from their parents, but from teachers, coaches, ministers, and scout leaders. When we fail to meet their needs, they turn to other things, like social media, the dark web, and drugs.

A philosopher once said, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men (and women) to do nothing.” Our children deserve much more, and we must do better. If we don’t, it’s at our own peril, and theirs as well.