We love to look at problems at the surface without studying the causes behind them. I am personally very guilty of this. I am studying prelaw and want to have an impact at a legal level. However, we have to understand that almost all problems go deeper than we acknowledge.
When gun violence occurs, we look into gun control. While this needs to be discussed, we also need to realize that simply restricting guns will not solve the problem of violence. Looking at problems from this perspective is hard because there is not a simple way to fix them.
Passing laws does not stop the evil act from occurring. It may lower the percentage of people who commit the act, but overall it will just cause people to act in secret. For instance, slavery is illegal everywhere in the world, yet 27 million people are victims of human trafficking.
I think Christians can be guilty of committing this. Legislating Christian values is something many Christians want to see. However, we do not realize that that alone will not fix the problem.
Most of the problems in our world do not come down to legislation, but to heart.
There is hope though. There are many organizations that work with people to prevent the problem, instead of making prescriptions for the problem. A great example of this is Mothers Against Drunk Driving, an organization that teaches DUI offenders the consequences of driving while drinking.
I believe that for every problem we should look deeply into what causes it. Examine all the possible factors and see why people commit evil acts. We should also be examining why certain people are more likely to fall victim to certain crime. This will allow us to better protect them from the dangers of the world.
Should we stop caring about legislation? No, because we live in a fallen world. People will break the law and do evil things and not amount of searching for causes and solutions will change this. I personally continue. I want to help people who are in difficult situations from a legal perspective. I also want to advocate for stronger laws to protect people in these positions. This is what I believe I am called to do from a career perspective.
However, first I need to understand that I am simply dealing with a prescription for the problem. Nothing I am doing actually prevents the evil from occurring. If I want evil to stop I
need to pray that it will stop and find ways where I can actually prevent negative things from occurring.
Let’s realize that if we want a real change we have to find the causes and the solutions to fix them.
White is a junior majoring in communication. She can be reached at WhiteSJ@jbu.edu.