NUMBERS MATTER

 Many people believe that numbers are just that - cold, emotionless bits and bytes of data, with no value other than presenting facts. Merely facts. Without human emotion. Those who believe this are so, so wrong. While numbers can be made to lie, they more often represent the cold, hard facts of a shameful situation- or the other way around.

 We can take pride in the numbers which showcase aid sent to Ukraine by governmental and NGO entities. We can take pride in achieving a victory of sorts over Covid, with fewer deaths. We can be ashamed of other numbers and what they represent. The coin of numerical data has two sides.

30,573

21+10 +11+ to infinity

What are those numbers, those standing alone, above? These are numbers of shame, of gross negativity and inhumanity. They represent in a small, yet so overwhelmingly large at the same time, the depths of depravity to which a supposed advanced, cultured, civilized society can still, continue, to do, to even applaud.

30,573 are the numbers of lies told by Trump, before the Washington Post gave up counting. The Big Lie, the one tearing, shredding, this country to bits, is separate and above. Lovely!!

The line of numbers is even more horrific, for it is literally, presented in full living horror, of bodies on floors, contorted in sudden, painful death, and so, so many of them children, the most hopeful segment of society. If we kill them off, we are killing our future. Hitler knew that. Stalin knew that. The Jewish children were targeted, and Russian children were indoctrinated. And it keeps on, a rather shameful, don't you think, tradition of this world and its varied centers of "civilization". So why the hell does this keep happening? 

Why were 21 bodies counted yesterday, with many more wounded in hospitals, 19 of the dead little children, in the same category of unthinkable, though it indeed happened, as Sandy Hook, for these were children of grades 2-4. These are the 'cute' segment of school populations, the little brothers and sisters, the pioneer oldest children, the child who leads parents, interpreting for them as they do not yet speak English. These are our vulnerable. They are the vulnerable points of our society. Why, why, do we then persist in allowing, even encouraging acts of this violence, this horror beyond all words, to occur? Why?!

Why, because we are mired in a rather senseless argument which has turned more violent each and every day. It has become politicized beyond all rationality. It is the subject, the grim presence of guns in our society. It is the ease with which they can be obtained. It is the casual coldness of the heart and hands of the holder of those guns. It is the puzzling question of why we allow our political hypocrites to bemoan, to wail, over those bodies, crying how ugly, how sad, how it must not be tolerated ... so where the hell is gun control.

It is nowhere. It is denounced by those such as Abbott whose constituents are now dead. At ages 7,8,9,10. No future for them. No future for the parents. No future for our riven, broken society. Not unless and until we straighten ourselves out. There will always be illegal guns around, but if there were fewer of them, if the opportunity to get them were limited, then many of these sick impulses of shooters would not be implemented.

It behooves us, as well, to instill a sense of shared humanity within our people, particularly among our future - our children. Instead, we are worrying, sniping at each other, poisonous invective spewing forth, falling upon and into the ears and hearts of our children. When can we stop the insane political arguments going on as to whether to teach CRT, a rather pointed program, right and wrong at one and the same time? When can we stop ignoring the values and contributions of other societies, those different from us, yet again, the same, sharing values? When can we stop insisting upon pointing to our differences, rather than similarities? Why do we share time and space for a professor touting the fact of "colorism", valued according to skin complexion, to features? Enough! How about pointing out that we all have one nose, two eyes, two kidneys, one heart, a pair of lungs, and one brain with which to think and keep pure.

Why do we tolerate spoilers such as Manchin, so hypocritical in so many ways? How do I count them? I do not, merely mourn their existence, and his continued spoiler presence as an elected Senator. He says he "would do anything I can" to pass "common sense" laws, legislation - yet refuses to end the filibuster for that, he states, would make this country insane. Ah, point of information, dear hypocrite - this country has already gone insane. To wit: our elections and the candidates within the systems, especially those of the GOP.  'Nuff said? 

Gun control. Politicized, despised, Supreme Court and the six retrograde justices, a true misnomer. Mass shootings. The resulting pain immutable, forever etched into the hearts of those bereft and etched into our national psyche as well. Food insecurity. Housing out of reach for too many. Abortion, the right to choose, weaponized, all the better to deny the equality of men and women. A political situation wherein we have an uphill slog to remedy the damage done by Trump. All this in a world imperiled in so many ways, including existentially, as the environment is so precarious.

We can present all the numbers. However, along with those cold, hard facts, must come the human connection, the actual, in real life, meaning and import of them. If we do not, if we continue to spout numbers without explanation and connection, without truth and emotion, well, you can write the ending on that.

Meanwhile, can we please, please, end these awful "breaking news" "stories" of butchered children, slain where they are supposed to be protected? Can we put an end to the invasion of the synagogues, temples, stores, arenas, of this country? Can we elect truthful, caring, responsible figures to guide this country along the proper paths? Now that, is a hard one to take up - near nigh unto impossible.