So cried a grieved Uvalde woman, a plaintive cry from the center of her soul to the very depths of every ion of her body. Why is that happening, why do the politicians do nothing, why, why, why? Is it stupidity? Is it the dark unstated feeling that well, it is okay, for most of the victims in these mass shootings are members of "other" groups?
Is it the sheer hardness of heart which amounts to the attitude of collateral damage, that it is okay for children to die in the name of Second Amendment rights? How awful if that were so. And yet that is the feeling one gets upon hearing the vehement, outraged cries of those demanding their right to possess assault and semi assault weapons, to freely purchase multiple weapons and ammunition, and use it at will. If people die, well at least the Second Amendment is hale and hearty! Right? No, so very, very wrong.
What is to be done with an idiot serving in Congress, evidently enough people out there agreeing with her politics and mindless or accepting of her dangerous lack of knowledge and coherent thought. All meshed with her egregious racist feelings well voiced too many, many times.
She says: "When 9/11 happened, we didn't ban planes, we secured the cockpits,"
I must add here that as a resident of NYC at that time I walked there, breathed, saw the ashes, the burnt papers, the posters of the missing, answered the numerous seekers of those missing, those pulverized members of families, friends, loved ones. No, it was not just "some" people and "a bunch of planes".
It was asked: "We've all seen how quickly and creatively Texas – your local legislature – can act when it wants to, say, protect the unborn embryo. Why not act with that alacrity to protect living, breathing 10-year-olds in this school behind me?"
No answers forthcoming. The ears of those who should be listening are stopped up with their own putrid shouts and rants. I, too, believe in the Second Amendment, I own a gun, legally purchased after fingerprinting, an investigation by the FBI and whatever rules were necessary to follow in the process. Why the hell not? Nothing to hide, no nefarious purposes, only in the hope that it never be used. But an assault rifle? Repetitious purchase? No process a must, with gun ownership easy for those who should most definitely not have a firearm in their possession, oddly enough having too many!
Even as the local paper printed its May 26 issue, its front page dark, deep black blank page, other than the large contrasting white print: MAY 24,2022. Even as a woman cried out asking what they are doing, the elected by them, responsible to them, why this happens again and again and again, so many times that the shell of indifference, a ho hum again is heard, and life goes on for those not involved.
But we are all involved. There is something most definitely wrong in the world today, not only here in America. Other countries boast that the USA is the worst in mass shootings. But they each have their own tragic situations. They all sit there reading the papers, listening to the news, check the media, comfortably out of harm's way as they relish the deaths of enemy soldiers, admire the sacrifices of Ukrainian citizens, fighting, literally to death, their very existence a challenge to Putin. Treated accordingly by Russian soldiers still, after all these centuries, proponents of horrid, criminal behavior as the occupiers. No, we are all involved. All living under the dark clouds of man's continued inhumanity towards man, the callous indifference to death by violence, unwarranted, with apparently lack of long-term interest in finding a solution, at least a beginning, to the complex issue at hand - gun control. Sane and safe. Fair and protective of the rights of all.
Rather than 'bother' with the complex nitty gritty of the matter, we seek out other explanations for these recurring tragedies. We seek others upon which to lay blame, convincing them to accept blame where none exists. No, those two girls in touch with the killer were not to blame. The adults are to blame. Questions are raised with no answers. Evasion of truth, a lack of fulfilling responsibilities. All of that rather than truth and positive preventive, proactive intervention and prevention. But no, we continue to allow our children to die. Or shoppers in markets and local stores, our show goers, our innocents walking on a street, taking a subway, voicing an opinion counter to the owner of that assault rifle.
Congresswoman Tenney says it is not as simple as saying we have a gun problem. She is correct if it is an acknowledgement of a deep rift in our society, a fragmentation and fraying of the safety blanket of society. We have allowed this to happen, even perhaps encouraging it ourselves. At times it made life easier, but now we reap the consequences.
We have GOP politicians who cannot see the forest of the country for the blinding trees of the "enemy" - those Democratic Party members who must be opposed because - simply because.
We have corrupt people, of all layers of society, from the local street cleaner to the bar owner, to the industrialists, to the highest ranks of officials, who deny the truth, twist it till it cries out in pain and surrender. We cringe, but do nothing when war crimes once again, ever and aways, are committed, leaving behind, as the detritus of society, the bodies, the hopes and dreams, the humanity we have shrugged off, rejected as inconvenient. We ignore the squishing of blood in the soaked lands of the globe. We ignore the murder of children even as they are recruited as soldiers, used as pawns, become the victims of the wars of adults.
Is the situation hopeless? I truly do not know at this point, but it must be stated that the proverbial half-filled or half empty glass grows ever emptier. Politicians grow ever more brazenly corrupt, denying it all, and yet there it is. And there is, too, our not only acceptance of it, but also, most astoundingly, our admiration for and of that sin against us, of the sinners themselves, for it is nothing less than that. What have we done and what are we continuing to do?
Yes, we are indeed dying out here, in so many, many ways. In so many unnecessary ways. Why do we spend so much on needless overkill weapons when we should better solve the underlying problems of society instead, obviating the need for macho play at work, turning, inevitably to war? Again, and again. And again.
People say we are making deals with the Devil. Or is it that the Devil is actually us? We need to check our mirrors for the answer to that, look deep inside that reflection. Or is that a needless step as the truth is already known to us, much as we would deny it.
How do we dare call upon G-d to be on our side when G-d has no part in it? We need to call upon ourselves. We were given the tools to do just that, but we have allowed those tools to turn rusty with disuse, turning instead to twisted tools which bring about twisted results.
We pervert religion to our needs, becoming extreme in our determination to run things as WE see fit; as we cast cynical eyes and 'beliefs' around, which are actually not true to origin or purpose. Christians become Christianists, using religion as a tool to beatdown others. In Judaism its members forget that we are all one, allowing levels of observance become harmful separation points. Buddhists and Hindus, Moslems within themselves, divided again, by questions of belief, in the same religion. If we cannot find peace amongst ourselves, how can we find, establish parameters of a peaceful, just, fair society, a productive one, allowing for a truly enlightened society which has much to overcome at present, even more so in the future.
We are indeed dying on our dying planet. Continue on our present self-destructive path and we will have to worry for not much longer. The next Mad Max movie, in production, now, will prove to be superfluous, for we will be living it in full Technicolor.
Life or Death. Choose. The choice is real.
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