For weeks now, flags have been flying at half-mast.

It is a consistent reminder that there is much to grieve.

It is like as a culture, we are all grieving, but because of the impact of multiple events one after another, we cannot finish grieving, so are left raw, and sometimes, desensitized.

A good friend heading 20-some hours on a bus down to training camp for National Guard, two weeks ago, was inundated with violent movies on the ride down by those in charge. One after another. He texted us at the 6^th movie asking for prayer. “Could you give me some things to pray for?” He asked us. He texted later that that had helped but that they had just started the 8^th movie. Eight violent movies in a row.

“What’s the purpose?” I texted.

He wrote, “I don’t know. Desensitization?”

In our lives and culture, that is…