By Dr. "Dan" Collins, Ph. D.
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A familiar verse penned from the gospel writer Luke, said the angels proclaimed at the birth of Christ “Peace on Earth good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). This powerful verse has special meaning now as the entire nation is still reeling from the trauma of the Sandy Hook Elementary school Massacre. More than anything else the word Peace, beacons, welcomes, and comforts us at a moment in our history where there is so much turmoil and confusion. We truly need peace.
In the original Koine Greek in which that verse was written, “Peace on Earth to people of goodwill” or “peace on earth toward men and women who have won God’s Favor” are both accurate translation of the original text. The difference may seem subtle, but the key idea is that peace is not an entitlement. Peace is the by-product of living a life rich in character. Peace according to a more complete understanding of Luke’s account, is the outgrowth of a lifestyle of compassion, cooperation, and community. Peace on an individual level is justice on a collective level.
During this holiday season where there is so much unrest, I believe that this brand of peace remedies so many problems. The hot topic of the day is the arms debate. But we should not be fooled into thinking that the symptom is the problem. Guns are the symptom. But the culture of violence is the core problem; it’s in the movies we watch, the video games we purchase, violence is a pervasive presence in our culture. But if we borrow some wisdom from Luke the physician, we are encouraged to step into a culture of peace.
It’s a peace that can only come about if we are willing to be courageous enough to have a dialogue about the real issues. We are violent in part because we are afraid of each other, and we are afraid of each other because we don’t know each other. And we don’t know each other because we rarely take the time. Let’s receive today that angelic invitation-“Peace on Earth, to people of goodwill.” It can transform us if we work at it.
A practical application of this peace is being able to talk about violence with our children, especially regarding an event like the Sandy Hook massacre.
Collectively our hearts were broken when we all learned of the tragic loss of life at Sandy Hook Elementary School. We would need to invent new words to capture the depth of our outrage, grief, and sadness caused by the senseless violence that occurred. As president Obama said, “What happened in Newtown, Connecticut could have occurred anywhere”, even right in our own neighborhoods.
A crisis like the one we are addressing causes enormous confusion and chaos for children and parents alike. When children are assaulted and killed in a school, many conflicting emotions are stirred up; children may feel:
- Frightened-about their own well-being
- Confused-about death, especially about children their own ages dying in school.
- Unsafe-some may feel that they will be attacked in school, despite the promises by adults.
- Vulnerable-If they are attacked, there may be no-one who could protect them
For example, an extreme reaction could be “school phobia”, that is, your child not wanting to go to school at all out of fear that they would be gunned down too.
As parent your role is crucial in helping your child cope with this situation. Affinity’s approach is the LEARN Model (© 2012) of responding to violence:
L – Listen rather than lecture. Follow the content your child gives you to avoid overloading them with “too much information”
E – Encourage your child’s emotional expression about the crisis.
A – Accept and expect a range of feelings your child might share.
R – Recognize and redirect useless emotions (i.e., panic, worry, rage and despair) toward the healing emotions such as empathy, compassion and hopefulness……..etc.
N – Nurture your child through the crisis with re-assuring words and gentle affection.
Reach out to “DR Dan” at www.drdancollins.com. We’d love to hear from you!
Dr. Dan Collins is vice president of Behavioral Health at Affinity Health & Medical Systems.