This morning we were all greeted with the most recent tragedy from Orlando, Florida. After we dutifully posted our rainbows, we all settled into our usual political corners. Liberals like me started talking about gun control and hate crime. Conservatives started talking about radical Islamic terrorism, and whether or not President Obama would call it that. Religious conservatives started talking about how if only the gays would stop being so gay, God wouldn’t let stuff like this happen. Religious liberals like me condemned comments like that.

And so it goes, and so it went…

The truth of the matter is that we don’t have a problem. We have a predicament. The word problem implies that there is a solution to be found, and if we only find the right one that the problem will be solved once and for all. The word predicament is simply a difficult situation.

If we bombed the entire Middle East tomorrow (as Donald Trump seems inclined to do, never mind innocent civilians), it wouldn’t change the fact that there are individuals who become radicalized and follow an extremist interpretation of Islam. It also wouldn’t change the fact that Christian white supremacists would also continue to be radicalized and follow an extremist interpretation of Christianity. Rounding up all Muslims, confiscating the Koran, prohibiting the practice of Islam… that may be the stuff of Trump’s fantasies, but it would accomplish nothing except to create more radicals in the end. No solution there.

If we passed sweeping gun control legislation tomorrow, and suddenly ceased to sell these weapons of mass murder to any and all who get the itch to buy one, there would still be an awful lot of them in circulation, and somehow, somewhere, someone would eventually find one and go on yet another killing spree. Confiscating all military style weaponry and ammunition may be the stuff of liberal fantasies, but it isn’t going to happen any time soon.

The reality that we live with is that our country is awash in weapons that exist for the sole purpose of killing as many people as possible as quickly as possible. Another reality is that it is impossible, utterly impossible to find and stop someone who is hell-bent on mass murder if they are operating as lone individuals or pairs, and/or if they have no prior criminal history.

We are left with the predicament of living in a society that endures random mass murder on a regular basis. It is a predicament, not a problem.  We cannot solve this.

So what do we do? How do we live? What is our personal response?

I do believe that even if the current reality isn’t a solvable problem, that we can make things better by making it more difficult for radicalized individuals to acquire weapons of mass murder. But hey, I’m a liberal and you know that. So yes, I will do all I can to support reasonable legislation that has the potential to improve on the status quo.

But is that all? Those are the default liberal talking points. Nothing new. No solution, even if it is an improvement.

On a personal level, I think the best thing we can do is to choose to consciously engage with the task of becoming more compassionate people. We can try (even if we fail) to reach out in kindness to those with whom we have disagreements. We will do so imperfectly. I’m warning you right now that yes, I will slip into snarky sarcasm and righteous liberal anger now and then. But then, after I rant, I’ll take a deep breath and try again. I’ll keep moving towards a place of greater compassion. That’s what I try to do, even if I’m not always good at it.

We can work toward expanding our compassion to include even those who would be radicalized, who are radicalized. They weren’t born that way. Every single one of them started out as a cute little baby, with a sweet smile and wide eyes. What happened??  What did they endure, what did they experience that resulted in hearts so filled with hate? We can try to figure that out, then make it our business to show love to every single child. Every single one.

We can feed the hungry, comfort the lonely, educate the young, care for the old, try our best to understand those with whom we disagree. Especially right now, we can reach out to the LGBTQ community, fly that rainbow flag, and stand together as one people.  THAT must be our response, now and always.

None of this will necessarily SOLVE anything, but it will make our present predicament easier to bear, even as we try to embody the change we wish to see in the world.