This morning, like so many other people, I woke up to the news that 9 people were killed while attending a bible study at a church in South Carolina. The victims, all Black, were killed by a White man. It is hard to understand the total lack of respect for life and the vastness of the violence of this crime. Hard to understand how someone so young, is so full of hate. Hard to understand how yet again, a gun was in the hands of someone who shouldn’t have one.

America, why does this keep happening?

We have a big problem with guns getting in the hands of people who are mentally ill or filled with rage. These are not the people our Constitution should be protecting.

We seem unable to break cycles of racism, passing it from one generation to another.

We have a president that people hate, not for his policies, but for the color of his skin.

With an election coming up in 2016 and all those interested in running starting their war of words, maybe they could start a national dialogue on the issues that matter instead of relying on hateful, misleading rants against each other. If they really want to make a difference in this country, now is the time to step up. We need it.

I’ve picked Nanci Griffith’s “It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go” from my IPod today.

“If we poison our children with hatred
Then, the hard life is all they’ll ever know”