Reflection: When Is Enough Going to Be Enough?

In this rare reflection, Jim Richmond pauses to acknowledge the tragic loss of two children and the wounding of many others at a Minneapolis school.

With empathy as a father and grandfather, Jim asks a hard question: When is enough going to be enough?

This is not a regular episode. It is a moment of grief, solidarity, and the reminder that answers exist—if we are willing to face them.

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Transcript

When is enough going to be enough?

That’s the question burning in me today.
 And I imagine it’s the same question echoing in homes, in classrooms, and in hearts across Minnesota—and across this country.

Yesterday morning, at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, children gathered for a Mass at the start of the school year. A place of worship. A place of learning. A place of safety.

Instead, it became a place of horror.
 Two children—just eight and ten years old—are gone. Seventeen others are injured. Families are broken. Classmates are traumatized. And an entire community is left asking: why?

I’m a father. I’m a grandfather. And I can tell you this: I know the feeling of sending your kids off, trusting they’ll come home safe. I know the quiet prayers we whisper as we watch them walk out the door. To think of those prayers ending at a church service—cut short by gunfire—it breaks something inside me.

And yet… we’ve been here before, haven’t we?
 Another tragedy. Another headline. Another round of “thoughts and prayers.”
And then—silence. Until the next time.

When is enough going to be enough?

Here’s the truth: there are answers. There are ways forward. But they require us to be brave enough—and honest enough—to entertain them. To sit at the same table, across differences, and admit that what we’re doing right now isn’t working.

It isn’t just about laws, or politics, or speeches. It’s about community. It’s about compassion. It’s about the choices we make when we decide what matters most: our pride… or our children’s lives.

In order to fix a problem, you have to acknowledge there is one.

I don’t have all the answers. But I know this: if we can grieve together—if we can stop long enough to truly feel this pain—maybe we can start to move toward something better. Maybe we can finally make the choice to say: enough is enough.

To the families in Minnesota—today, I feel your pain. I grieve with you. I stand with you.

And to everyone listening: I’m Jim Richmond. I’m still here for a reason.
 Maybe today, that reason is to remind us… enough can be enough, if we choose it.