The recent school shootings have riveted the attention of the nation once more on the problem of violence in our society. This situation became real to me on Thursday, when my granddaughter's school received a anonymous letter threatening her class at their picnic planned for last Friday. After the recent shootings and the narrowly averted violence at nearby Wimberly, the administration called off the picnic. But this problem is only the tip of the iceberg. It is merely the most visible part of the dearth of values within our present civilization.

Back in the late 1940's the philosopher Elton Trueblood wrote that we in the United States are living in a "cut-flower" civilization. Flowers grow well when they have fertile soil. And they look good when they are first placed in a vase. But in time, inevitably, they wither. Trueblood predicted that the disconnect between humanity and God would inevitably lead to a withered civilization. We are now experiencing that result of cutting ourselves off from the divine source of life. Efforts are now being made to identify and curb those influences that perpetuate disorder in our nation. Lately legislative debate has intensified to the level of verbal violence in an attempt to find the best means for restraining violence. They talk about major changes in gun availability, the media, computer games, the Internet, parental nurture and supervision, and the use of police power. I believe the problem is complex and all of these are needed. Yet I have to agree with David Bragg that people expect legislation and policing to solve problems they are not designed to handle.

The deepest source of the problem of violence and the sole place where the final solution can take place is the heart, in those dimensions of human life called commitment, values, and interpersonal skills. In these areas Christians and Jews have a lot to contribute and now is the time to make ourselves heard in every way we can. In a prophecy of a just and compassionate society, Isaiah 32:16-17 speaks eloquently to this issue. It says that when God's Spirit rules: "Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever". Righteousness comprehends both commitment to God and responsible concern for people. According to Scripture, righteousness speaks of community, not individualism, being responsible, of showing caring. Those in Matthew 25, who visit prisoners and feed the hungry are called "the righteous" (vv. 37, 46). Peace also has a rich social meaning. It refers not to a placid absence of conflict, but to a enriching collaboration among people of good will. This passage says eloquently that when people show due care for those around them, the result will be peace or, one can say, a healthy society. Dr. Everett Koop, the former Surgeon General, sought to further this solution when he said, "The moral health of a nation or society can be judged by the collective, prevailing, compassionate concern of the majority of citizens . . . ."

Family therapists are in the unique position of being able to observe the consequences of behavior and social influences on children and adults alike. The founder of the Contextual School of Family Therapy, Dr. Ivan Boszormenyi Nagy, found that people show genuine autonomy not by being macho, but by demonstrating concern for other people. He says, "the individual's goal of autonomy is inextricably linked to his capacity for relational accountability." (Between Give and Take, p. 62) That statement fits the biblical definition of righteousness perfectly. His goal for therapy is to bring about a just satisfaction of personal need in every member of the family and so bring about a mutual support of one another or Isaiah's kind of peace.

Dr. Nagy states further that when we show due consideration of the needs of other people we uphold interpersonal justice and earn entitlement. Normally, he continues, we receive good consequences in return for our earned entitlement. In like manner those who receive this caring tend to gain constructive entitlement for themselves by showing due consideration to others. Conversely, people who perpetrate harm, become destructively entitled as do also those they victimize. Their victims feel entitled to seek reparation, but usually they inflict their basically justifiable grudge on innocent people (pp. 109-117), making them destructively entitled. In this way destructive behavior moves through society.

Examples of this effect abound. One of my clients had been abused as a child. She was now a Christian and trying to raise her children in a loving way. But one day she described how her daughter sassed her and, she said, "I hit her over the head with a skillet. Now why did I do that?" Then she remembered that she had been hit in the same way as a child. In the wake of the Littleton, Colorado school shooting, U.S. News and World Report reviewed the alarming amount of bullying in public schools today. In reference to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold the article commented, "Bullied, they become bullies themselves." (May 3, 1999, p. 24) That bullying does not justify what they did, but points to one link in the chain of destructive entitlement that resulted in an explosion of destructive anger in April.

The Scripture teaches intervention in situations like this. Such intervention can break the chain of injury. We are to interact with others by giving responsible consideration to their needs, even to the point of feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and visiting the imprisoned (Matt. 25:31 - 46). People who have been victimized need caring resources, such as love, encouragement, and genuine help, to surmount their natural tendency to be vindictive. What might have been the outcome if some modern-day Samaritans had offered love and acceptance to the injured loners, Harris and Klebold, before they reached the point of cynical rejection of such kindness? As Christians we are commanded to offer that kind of acceptance and assistance to people who are in a one down position. We need a whole society of people who do that. Christ has called the church to be that kind of society. And we can not only perform it, but we can also contend for the teaching and practice of this kind of caring in families, schools, community organizations, and the larger society. At this point in our national life, it's worth our concerted effort. Then "the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever."

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