I want to start this week by saying that our thoughts and prayers are with the individuals, the families, and the communities devastated this week in South Carolina. Events that tragic and hate that strong are often difficult to comprehend, and more and more it seems that when a tragedy happens, we jump right into the politically charged discussions surrounding the event, and we lose sight of the fact that many are still grieving. In light of that, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on this, and some of the things that people are saying about the tragedy.

Of course, one of the first things to come up in the aftermath of the Charleston massacre was guns: everything from gun control to the morality of carrying in a church. There are those who say that violence begets more violence, and that by allowing congregations to carry guns into a church, we are further perpetuating that cycle. Now, I will agree that violence can beget more violence. One violent crime often begets another, particularly when we talk about gang violence. On the other hand, violence sometimes begets a protective act of violence. While we all hope we never have to use our guns against another person, it is preferable to the alternative of doing nothing.

Take the flip side of this: the killer, whose name I will not speak on this show, has admitted that he nearly didn’t go through with this heinous crime. This was because everyone was so nice to him in the church that he had second thoughts. This is more powerful to me than any other story surrounding the Charleston shooting: that the love shown for a small period of time nearly overcame deep-seeded hate of generations. I hope that we learn from that, if nothing else this week. Love and acceptance are always the first option, and the last is always violence. Now please listen to Reverend Pikney who was the pastor that was murdered in this tragedy speak about love.