Rich's Redeeming Hope Blog

Ten years ago last week, a gunman killed twenty first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. The massacre shook the nation. Just weeks later, I was called into Newtown to help the community move forward, from trauma and despair to healing and hope.

Since then, school shootings have become so common that kids report imagining how they’d react if it happened to them. I have two children of my own; no child or parent, anywhere, anytime, should have to imagine such tragedy. 

The U.S. has more guns on the street than any other nation, with gun violence on the rise. In the last five years, the U.S. has had more mass shootings than any other comparable time span dating back to 1966. What’s going on? What should we be thinking about—and doing?

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The 2022 elections are over, and the political instability once predicted seems to have passed. But the challenges people face in their lives have not magically evaporated because of one election season, nor have future political shenanigans. You, me and others who believe in creating a more inclusive, hopeful path moving forward must act—and with renewed intentionality. There is work to do, progress to make, hope to build. Now.

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As election day approaches, tension and anxiety are rising to a feverish pitch across the country. What will be the fall out, and how will people and our nation endure the potential chaos and uncertainty that ensues? It is at this moment that we—you, me and others—must reclaim hope. Now.

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The morning following the first public hearing investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Rich Harwood offers a perspective on where we can find hope today despite the intensely negative news cycle. He urges us not to deny that may be tired, defeated, or even enraged. But that we find and embrace hope amid the many struggles and crises in the world today.

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