“We can’t tolerate this anymore,” said the president. He then added, “These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.” That sounds good to me. He went on to say that our nation was failing at “our first task” and that “if we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right.” The president then posed two questions: “Can we truly say, as a nation, that we are meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we are doing enough to keep our children—all of them—safe from harm?” (The News Tribune, December 17, 2012)
How many aren’t safe? I was curious. Out came the calculator. Here are the numbers: 1.2 million divided by 365 equals 3,288. Divide 3,288 by 24 gives us 136. Divide 136 by 4 and you end up with 34.
Our nation gasped last week when 27 people (20 of which were children) were massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. It was a horrific tragedy carried out by a lone, disturbed, and evil gunman. Why would anyone do such a thing? What would motivate someone to kill a child?
Politicians and talk radio are talking about ways to prevent future incidents. Restrictive gun laws, more extensive background checks, new mental health guidelines, and curbing violence from video games and Hollywood are being bandied about as the nation debates. There are all kinds of scrutiny and rightly so; no one wants this to happen again. But there is another massacre in our midst that also deserves our nation’s attention; after all, the president has asked, are we “doing enough to keep our children—all of them—safe from harm?”
The answer to his rhetorical question is an unequivocal and resounding NO! One million two-hundred-thousand babies will be aborted (killed) in 2012. When you divide that very large number by 365 the daily count is 3,288. When you divide the daily carnage by 24, you arrive at the hourly number of 136. And when you divide the hourly number by 4, we discover that 34 children are slain every 15 minutes. The math demonstrates a comparable amount of time and loss of life to the horrors that occurred at Sandy Hook. The difference being that the slayings in Connecticut is a snapshot in time; whereas, every 15 minutes the endless reel of abortion cues up again and again and again. The equation is a massacre: 1.2 million divided by 365 divided by 24 divided by 4 equals 34. Every 15 minutes another 34 children die. That’s an entire classroom of children. We are not keeping our children safe from harm.
There was a tragedy last week in Connecticut; but there is another tragedy which plays out every single day in our nation. The president said “These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.” He didn’t know how right he was. “We can’t tolerate this anymore.”
Pastor Rich Hamlin
December 20, 2012
It is almost as if the President of the United States is irony impaired.
We do need a Savior. Come Lord Jesus.
My thoughts exactly as I heard a ‘compassionate’ message from a man who says it is ‘above his pay grade’ to figure out if abortion is murder. So, you would think he should error on the side of life if he is not sure. Come quickly Lord Jesus!
Thanks for your thoughts Pastor. God grants us the authority over dominion and be good stewards of it. Our precious nation has been disassemble one stone at a time. Evil has attack us in every aspect of our lives. Evil has shown himself as good looks and eloquent speaker. This administration has challenged our faith and foundation of marriage and our constitution to create tyranny in families and confusion and destruction and confusion, there for more control by government. Million of children were never given any opportunity, they were not as fortunate as you and I…We are their voice and must stand against EVIL… One man’s opinion
This is frightening! Our president was right! At least in part. However, unfortunately for our nation, his context was wrong. Thanks for the clarification.