It's -- been awhile since I posted.
More about that in the days to come.
But for now, for tonight, it's a New Year's reflection. Four years ago on the fresh and first day of 2012, my cozy New Year nestled in my idyllic pine forest home in Minnesota was shattered by horrific news. Jack and I learned that one of our dear and beloved former Lutheran Campus Ministry and Aikido students from K-State was murdered. Through the anguish and tears streaming down my cheeks, I wrote about her death in The Lutheran online magazine in a post entitled, Margaret.
It wasn't just any, run-of-the-mill murder. Margaret Kritsch Anderson was serving with distinction as a park ranger in Mount Rainier National Park. On New Year's Day morning while she was assisting families and children up at the Paradise Center, she heard news over the ranger coms that someone had blasted past the snow tire check point. The driver's intentions unknown, Margaret took off in her ranger SUV to set up a blockade on the narrow and winding road that had as its destination the Paradise lodge packed with families enjoying their holiday.
Benjamin Colton Barnes, a very troubled Iraq war veteran who was notably suffering from PTSD and violent tendencies, was barreling up the mountain. His car was filled with an arsenal of weapons, including assault rifles with armor-piercing rounds. None of this was known to any of the rangers in the park, even though on New Year's Eve he had a violent altercation at a party in Seattle.
Waiting in her SUV blocking the road, Margaret was gunned down by her assailant. He fired on her vehicle as the rounds ripped through the door and her body. Then he kept other rangers at bay for 90 minutes firing on them as they tried to rescue her. Ben Barnes fled on foot down into a ravine on the mountain. He was found early the next morning lying face down in a creek.
Margaret's husband, Eric, also a ranger in the park that day, heard about all of this over the park radio as it was transpiring, but could do nothing to help his dying wife. She left behind two small daughters, Anna and Katie. They were one and three at the time. Later on in the month of January when I traveled to Seattle for her memorial service, chronicled in this post, Memorial, I met Eric and her beautiful daughters. It was heartbreaking and incredibly sad.
According to the US Center For Disease Control, there are over 33,000 deaths by firearms in our country each year. Figuring conservatively at about 30,000 firearm deaths per year, in the four years since Margaret was viciously gunned down, over 120,000 people have lost their lives due to gun violence in the USA. Let the number sink in...for a minute or so. In comparison, the Vietnam war military deaths weigh in at a bit of 58,000. It's beyond mind boggling and sobering to consider that we live in a country in which it is as if we are at war with one another and the lethal weapon of choice we use is a firearm. In one year alone, we kill the equivalent of the population one medium-sized town in America.
There are many reasons why Ben Barnes ought not to have been in possession of any weapons. The court was well aware that he was violent and it had issued a restraining order against him at the urgent plea of the mother of his daughter. His base outside of Seattle was aware of his struggle with PTSD and the list goes on. My heartbreak and the sorrow of my family, Margaret's family and friends is magnified and amplified over and over again in by other families who experience the same in our country.
I commonly use the third person, "we," when I talk and write about this grave matter. I think we are all in this together and together, we must find a way out of this terror and violence that stalks our nation. I also believe that we are addicted to such violence and the weapons that wreak havoc on our neighbors. I fear that we are like the proverbial frogs in the kettle of water that is slowly heating up to a boil and don't know enough to leap out for our dear lives, but instead - do nothing.
Since Margaret's murder, I've been working for change. A year after her murder, Dick Gordon of NPR's The Story, contacted me about sharing my insights about Margaret's death. I've been doing what I can, and I usually feel that it's precious little and that it's not accomplishing much at all. But on my best days, I have to believe that each small action, combined with the compassionate and persistent actions of others, must make a difference - some how.
So, I return to the words that I wrote four years ago and reflect:
But I fear that we will again, strain to make sense of the senseless
act by focusing on the desperate, despicable act of a soldier gone bad. I
don’t think it’s that simple. I don’t think Margaret, who was
thoughtful as the day is long, would dismiss him so lightly. I know
Margaret. I think she would ask deeper questions about Ben. She would
wonder about his family and if any one was caring for and praying for
him. Margaret would want to talk this through with others.
We, O Church, owe it to Margaret and yes, to Ben, to ponder this more
deeply. To dig down and do some New Year’s soul-searching as a nation
about our addiction to violence, our support of its use under the
state’s authorization in war, but our mass-projection and baffling
monster-creation when one of our own turns on others out of pain, rage,
despair and isolation. I didn’t know Ben, but I pray for his family and
all who knew him, worried about him, loved him and mourn his violent
actions and his cold, frozen death.
So, I pray, and we pray and we take faithful actions for justice, mercy and compassion. I want to keep her memory alive and before the world. Margaret was a beautiful and amazing human being. She was, and still I,s beloved by many. I hope that this tribute can give a bit of solace to all who remember and all who love her. Margaret was a campfire sort of person who loved the outdoors, her family and God. She was a beloved campus ministry peer minister and thus, her story is a fitting match for the blending of my blogs.
For the time being, as The Lutheran online magazine works on some transitions, I'm shifting my campus ministry posts to this blog. I wish you all the best and brightest blessings in this new year and I invite you to join with me in working for peace and justice for all of God's beloved children - and I mean all of God's children - in the world.
