Never forget. Those words have been associated with this date on the calendar for over two decades. Like many others, I remember where I was, what I was doing, and what the days following the incident felt like. Those days were different than the days today. Then it felt like people pulled together—albeit in opposition to others. There seemed to be a general sense that we were stronger together, that our differences could be set aside for some bigger pursuit. What felt true about the country then is perhaps true of the smaller groups today. Political ideologies have channeled the patriotism and now, in the wake of yet another tragedy, where someone lost a life, where a family lost a son, father, and husband, where death seems to reign supreme, the two sides are divided against each other—the middle has been squeezed out almost entirely. You are either for us or against us. Never forget what side you are on, and fly that flag.

I’ve been struggling with how to react, not just to the national tragedies but to the personal one too. What causes people to act the way they do? Theologically I know the answer, sin, but the question is far more pointed than the general (albeit true) answer suggests. What is it in that person’s life that causes them to think the problem is solved with a gun? It’s a similar question to the one we should be asking in many other areas too. What is it that makes a gun, a procedure, a substance the most attractive answer to the problem? Yes, brokenness permeates our existence in the wake of the fall. Yes, I am a poor, miserable sinner, and so are you. But why do some situations lead in one direction and others lead into a different one? There are practical answers, legitimate answers, and yet, we won’t always get the answers.

We do, though, have to live in the wake of it all. Today, the cacophony is growing louder and more pointed and I understand the hurt and pain. I also understand the hurt and pain and cacophony that sounds when there are school shootings too. Chatting with a friend today we both came to realize about society today what you probably already knew—we are well beyond trying to understand one another, well beyond the point of recognizing that the thing we are decrying is only an issue when it happens to us. 

I do, however, think the idea of not forgetting, of remembering something, is needed today. Remembering the victims of violence, remembering the pain and hurt and frustration, these can all produce good ends, but that’s not the thing I want to advocate remembering today or tomorrow. I propose we remember what John Donne knew, what Martin Franzmann knew, what we know to be the right answer but fail to live in light of. 

No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were:
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were.

Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
– John Donne

In Adam we have all been one,
One huge rebellious man;
We all have fled that evening voice
That sought us as we ran.

We fled thee, and in losing thee
We lost our brother too;
Each singly sought and claimed his own;
Each man his brother slew.

But thy strong love, it sought us still
And sent thine only Son
That we might hear his shepherd’s voice
And, hearing him, be one.

O thou who, when we loved thee not,
Didst love and save us all;
Thou great Good Shepherd of mankind,
Oh, hear us when we call.

Send us thy Spirit, teach us truth;
Thou Son, oh, set us free
From fancied wisdom, self-sought ways,
And make us one in thee.

Then shall our song united rise
To thine eternal throne;
Where with the Father evermore
And Spirit, thou art one.

– Martin Hans Franzmann

Never forget.
No man is an island.
Never forget.
We fled and lost each other.
Never forget.
He sought us still.
Never forget.