I’LL SECOND THAT EMOTION

I had begun to start writing this several days ago…and then something happened that should never have happened. The emotions I was going to talk about evaporated into a cliché. Needless to say my thought process, along with the world around me, changed and not in a good way, the humor I had hoped to bring to this little rant immediately disappeared and may never return again in the future. As the story unfolded, through every available news source, we would learn twenty-eight people died in all. Twenty of them children between six and seven years old, seven adults tried to protect them from one lone gunman who, in the end, took his own life… but, everyone knows all about this by now. I won’t bore you with a re-hash of it all. As is usually the case when things like this happen (all too frequently these days it seems) heartfelt condolences and decries about how senseless (and preventable) these tragedies are begin to pour out from all corners of the globe pointing fingers in every direction in an effort to exorcise…what? We, as a society, have short memories when it comes to genuine human interaction. The bodies of the lost are barely cold and eulogized yet every numb nut out there breaks out their soapbox and proclaims “We need to (Insert the half baked plan of your choice here) right now!” not really having thought anything completely through. We heartlessly disrespect the fallen and the grief of their families in an effort to grab attention for our own misguided cause at their expense. We do this knowing full well deep inside…we won’t remember anyone’s names a week from now! The only ones who will are the families who will live with this loss for the rest of their lives. Sadly, by then, there will be another tragedy to bring fresh fodder to the non-discussion. The left will still be blaming EVERYONE and want all of the guns no matter how ludicrous a possibility that would be. The survivalists (a mixed bag of political beliefs) will still be worrying they’re going to be used as “scapegoats” for everything that happens while they practice shooting and blowing shit up in the middle of nowhere. The right will still be hiding behind the Bible and their NRA contributions. The NRA will still be largely silent and stand behind their antiquated slogans and bumper stickers. Their slogan “Guns don’t kill people, People kill people” is absolutely true. Minimizing the guns is only a small fraction of the issue. Better background checks, tighter control of gun sales (to include those by the Government), better mental health care, better education, better ways to resolve conflicts need to be taught and discussed. We need to figure out a way to get back to being HUMAN. We need to re-learn how not to be knee-jerk reactionary lemmings and seek understanding and common ground again. It wasn’t all that long ago we were on the path to get there…then, somehow, we took that left turn in Albuquerque Bugs Bunny warned us about. The solution…as it always has been, is somewhere in the middle right next to the donuts on the conference table nobody is willing to sit down at. It’s time we actually did.