An exciting and adventurous look outward this week was tempered with news that should force us to look inward just as hard.

On Monday, NASA released the first photo from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the deepest infrared image of the universe ever.

A replica of the Hubble Deep Field shot in 1995, the JWST image is mind-boggling, stunning and also a bit scary.

The image captures one 24-millionth of the entire sky, equivalent to the size of a grain of sand held at arms length, or a tennis ball from 100 meters (328 feet).

Despite being such a small pinpoint of the universe, the image contains thousands of galaxies, not stars, not planets — galaxies.

For some perspective, our Milky Way Galaxy contains 100-400 billion stars, and it’s only half the size across as the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy.

Light from galaxies in the JWST photo took billions of years to reach the cameras, and some of those galaxies were created just 1 billion years after the big bang.

The reds, greens and blues in the photo dance around and curve due to gravitational pull, and the immenseness of the photo, when you think about it, is difficult to comprehend.

When I look at that picture, I can only think one thing, what else is out there? Soon, we may know.

The JWST has the ability to scan planets for water signatures and the likelihood of sustainability of life, potentially locating planets habitable to humans. Obviously we are a long way from going to another solar system, but the thought is exciting.

That exciting Monday news of our achievement was counterbalanced on Tuesday with the release of multiple videos from outside and inside Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers, injuring 16 more.

The video is not for those with a weak stomach. It shows the shooter crash a truck outside the building, shoot at good Samaritans, then head toward the school firing shots. At that point, multiple 911 calls had been placed.

The shooter is then shown from an interior camera, entering the building and walking into a classroom.

Journalists that released the video removed the sounds of children screaming, deeming it too graphic. Frankly, the sound of the gunfire is more than enough to turn the most hardened stomachs.

From there, it’s 77 minutes before police take action, ultimately killing the shooter. During that time, 911 calls were still being made from inside the building and police were being urged to take action from dispatchers and bystanders alike.

The video was hard to watch, and it made me mad.

It made me mad mad there are people in the world who would do what the shooter did, and it made me mad he wasn’t stopped quicker.

We have to find ways to reach people before they murder 21 people in an elementary school, or we have to find a way to prevent them from doing so.

As mad as I was a that, I was equally mad watching for more than an hour as law enforcement from every possible jurisdiction from the city to the feds stood back and did nothing.

No matter where you stand on gun rights, here’s the rub — if we aren’t going to take action like other firstworld countries have to lessen the impact of firearms, we have to have people who are willing and ready to put their lives on the line again and again and again and again.

These kinds of shootings won’t stop on their own. This year alone, there have been 27 school shootings, with 24 students and three adults killed, and another 56 injured.

Either we take action, or we live with the consequences, and I don’t find the figures above acceptable.

The JWST will no doubt keep delivering amazing images and news, like the four other photos released Tuesday. If the school shooting issue is currently in Hubble stage, I hope we can find JWST-level clarity, and sooner than the amount of time it takes light to reach our latest telescopic achievement.

Kyle Troutman has served as the editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014. In 2017, he was named William E. James/ Missouri Outstanding Young Journalist for daily newspapers. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or ktroutman@cherryroad.com.

“In the email to parents, the high school apologized for the stress the situation has caused Monett families… The question going forward is, would ‘Dear Martin’ be considered by that committee, and if disallowed, why?”