TOM MURR

Tom's and Anne’s life stories are in the 1996 edition of Recipes for Living, but Tom has given permission to reprint his Letter to the Editor of the Osceola Sentinel-Tribune of March 15, 2001. Tom is the Athletic Director of Clarke Community High School and qualified to speak with authority on the subject of students and school violence. He also ministers to the Woodburn United Methodist congregation, where he was a student pastor while enrolled in Simpson College.

Dear Editor:

Last week the violence in American schools erupted again. The media went on to analyze the causes of the violence in the schools.

While it may be interesting to analyze violence in school, it does little good. We all know that there are many factors that cause young people in schools and adults in their work places to turn to violence.

I believe that instead of looking for small slices of violence, like a pie, we need to look at the person or persons who are committing the violent acts. It would be my conclusion that time and time again the individuals do not have any faith in their lives and they have no one to promote that faith. Their lives are like T.S. Elliott’s poem of straw men back in the 1920s. There was no meaning in the straw men then, and now they turn to violence to satisfy their feelings.

Violence could be greatly reduced if we would take the time to care about the people around us. From my own school days, many years ago, I know how hard it was to be an outcast and alone. But I had strong reinforcements holding me up every day- my parents and grandparents. They had time to talk and listen to my frustrations, anxieties, anger, and other feelings of a teenager. They were there with their faith to support me. The German-American Theologian Paul Tillich called this the "ground of our being."

There is not one slice of the pie to bring an end to violence. But if we take care of the "people" in loving and caring ways, then we can stem the violence in schools and in our job places. Without support, those feeling pain become hurt and angry. They use violence to bring some strange remedy to the pain.

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Search Institute, founded in Minneapolis, has created a list of assets that help young people grow into healthy, caring, responsible persons. Each citizen in every community can assist in the process. Take note of the suggestions on the following page. They appeared in the 1999 edition of Recipes for Living and are used with permission from the Institute.

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Last Revised August 13, 2012