Michael L. Fischler of Holderness is a professor emeritus of Counselor Education and School Psychology at Plymouth State University.
In 1959 during the convocation of The United Negro College Fund, John Kennedy stated that “the Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger – but recognize the opportunity.”
It wasn’t until 1975, after getting a job as a professor at Plymouth State University, founding its Counseling Center, and studying how crisis, conflict and dissonance are essential elements in any behavioral change process that Kennedy’s penetrating assertion returned to me.
Often, during my 50-year career, I would call upon Kennedy’s message when I sought to deepen my students understanding of how to facilitate behavioral change or to help those suffering during times of crisis to find a semblance of transformative meaning from their difficult, if not tragic situations.
Today our nation feels like it’s reached one of those “crisis to opportunity” moments, where transformative meaning is available. As the particulars of the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas unfold, and the suffering of victims is exposed, and the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde becomes every American’s elementary school; and the teachers who died become every American’s teachers; and the families who lost children become of every American’s family members; and every child who died becomes every American’s child, the opportunity for change becomes ever the more evident.
America today is clearly different than it was just a scant week ago, with diverse media outlets trumpeting headlines such as “Yankees and Rays Turn Away from Game to Discuss Gun Violence,” “11-year-old who Survived Uvalde Massacre Struggles to Deal in Aftermath with Unimaginable Trauma,” “Join us in 21 Minutes of Silence for the 21 victims in the Uvalde School Shooting (Texas Tribune Staff) ” and “I’m tired of the moments of silence, says Warriors coach Steve Kerr as He Makes Powerful Plea Against Gun Violence.”
And also, “Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Booed Outside Uvalde School where Gunman Killed 21: ‘Shame on You’”and “Other Countries Had Mass Shootings Then they Changed their Gun Laws.”
While the dissonance is present and opportunity for change is evident and available, the ever abating crisis-dependent window for change will not stay open long.
It is thus imperative that if we wish to reduce our nation’s gun violence and give meaning to the lives of those who’ve suffered from its presence, we not be silent.
We are advised in an ancient Chinese proverb that, “closing one’s eyes will not ease another’s pain.” Thus, if we are to contribute toward reducing the pain that is devastating so many within our nation it is imperative that each of us open our eyes, find ways to speak loudly, and choose, while we still have the opportunity, to follow the imperative present in Kennedy’s description of the Chinese brush stroke that suggests that now is our moment of opportunity.