Why "Peace Trace"

I probably watch too many cop shows because the idea of "peace trace" comes from the practice you always see of the investigators collecting "trace evidence" from the crime scene so that they can determine what happened and identify the guilty party.  I can see Law & Order: SVU's Olivia examining a potential suspect's hands for traces of blood or gun residue.

After Sandy Hook, a question sprinkled among the many public demands for assault weapons bans and increased mental health coverage was ‘what is wrong with our society that we have raised so many disturbed young individuals who not only don’t value others’ lives, they don’t value their own?’  That is, what is it about our society that’s so toxic?

I can’t begin to answer such a complex question.  However, gun rights advocates and some pro-gun researchers insist that evidence strongly suggests—if not proves—that the answer to our seeming epidemic of mass shootings by disturbed young men is more firearms.  Clearly we are a nation with much more than a trace of gun residue on our hands, much of it on the hands of “law abiding citizens” who seem willing to defend their right to unfettered gun ownership and use to the death. Are guns really our only hope for a safe and peaceful society?  Is building fortresses and arsenals—expecting the worst of all strangers and focusing all our energy and resources preparing for doom—our best pathway toward true well-being for all this planet’s living beings?

What would a detailed investigation reveal about the trace residue on our hands? Would there be much trace of the very hard work of peace?  If not, how did we get to this toxic, angry, violence-prone place, we who—according to Christian belief—are made in the image of God and filled with His Spirit (whose fruit, btw, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, not anger, suspicion, distrust, condemnation, violence, and packing heat)?  How do we work toward a society in which weapons of any kind are primarily unnecessary and are used only as means of last resort?  If the Sandy Hook tragedy is a mirror of American life and culture, what does it reflect back to us of ourselves?  How do we build on our best features and minimize if not eliminate those features we see that cause us repeated harm?  

Far from being a “happily ever after for everybody” romantic about life, human inter-relationship—and human interaction with nature—I am generally pessimist and skeptic and first, hardly consistent w/ my self-definition as a woman of faith.  I don’t have any fantasies about how very difficult and long-term massive social change of any kind would be.  But despite my skepticism, despite the difficulty, I must believe that the seeds of a more just, equitable, and peaceful society and world live within us; we must be willing to step up and ready ourselves for the challenge.