Nose for News by Sarah Stultz

 

It made me sick to my stomach as news of not one, but two, mass shootings came up over the weekend.

Not too long ago, I was in this same place, writing about a separate shooting. It was a separate story, of course, with a separate shooter and separate victims, but the outcome was all too familiar.

Several dozen people, who were going about their daily lives, were met with extreme violence. Some survived — many didn’t.

“What were the reasons behind these shootings?” I thought to myself as I read about each one. “When will it end?”

The first shooting, near El Paso, Texas, occurred at a Walmart, while the second occurred in a popular nightlife district in downtown Dayton, Ohio.

As families left behind begin planning the funerals of their loved ones and others are still clinging on to their lives in hospitals, the finger-pointing has already begun. People of any and all ideologies are voicing their opinions about what led to the shootings and offering their thoughts about what to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again. The reality is that many of these opinions could be true.

What if there were different laws in place? What can be changed so that this doesn’t happen again?

As sad as I am to see that two more shootings have happened, I am equally saddened to see how broken our country is. Civil discussion and open-mindedness have been pushed aside and replaced with insults and vile language. It doesn’t take much observation of online comment boards or Facebook posts to see that many people these days are struggling with respective dialogue — and that’s on both sides.

How can we expect to come up with solutions to some of the challenging problems facing our country if we cannot listen to each other? Why do some people dismiss another’s comments simply because they come from the opposing political party?

Why do people feel a need to be so hurtful to others who have different opinions than their own?

Unless these questions are answered, I do not think any of the solutions offered will make much of a difference in the long-term in reducing mass shootings.

Our culture in America must make a shift.

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune.