Tuesday, June 21, 2016
I became a supporter of thoughtful regulation of guns when I was an eight year old boy and my father was nearly deliberately murdered...by a teenager.
The brightest and longest day of the year of 2016 just came and went here in the Northern Hemisphere. And yet here in the United States it is very dark. It is very dark indeed.
Here in the United States Americans still cannot muster sufficient resources (energy, rage and money...among others) to enact some common sense gun control regulations that would stop this country from being an international laughingstock. Seriously, our citizenry throw more of a fit over transgendered people's access to certain bathrooms than it does over the fact that we continually set records for more and more deadly mass shootings. How is that for priorities?
It is easy for me to feel incensed by the callousness and cowardice of my fellow Americans as well as so many of our members of Congress. I haven't seen any hard data to substantiate the feeling I am about to share but I will divulge it anyway. I feel as if Americans' capacity to give a s*** about their fellow Americans is at a terrible nadir. The murder of little children in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012 was apparently not sufficiently gruesome to galvanize this nation to pass some common sense reforms of our laws pertaining to the issue of gun violence. The slaughter of nearly fifty people in Orlando nine days ago was also apparently not enough to break Congress from its NRA induced waking dead trance.
Bearing unwitting witness to such horror leaves me wondering if something even more sinister is going on. Perhaps the NRA has secretly threatened members of our Congress. Maybe there is a deeper web of corruption and deceit that has not yet come to light here in America. It would be so nice if such corruption, if it does indeed exist, were exposed in the scorching light of our summer days. I think the United States may be one of the most short-sighted, self-absorbed nations in modern history. A hyperbolic assertion? Perhaps. But seriously, when the nation can move on and make no substantive change after innocent children are murdered you have to wonder what in the world is wrong with people???
As is not unusual for me to do I first wrote some of my sentiments on Facebook. Then, once my writing reached a certain length, I realized I needed to move on over to my blog. As I sit and ponder what happened in Orlando as well as reflect on all the gun related deaths of people across this nation I find myself mulling over these thoughts:
These days I feel queasy at being an American.
I became a supporter of thoughtful regulation of guns when I was an eight year old boy and my father was nearly deliberately murdered...by a teenager.
The brightest and longest day of the year of 2016 just came and went here in the Northern Hemisphere. And yet here in the United States it is very dark. It is very dark indeed.
Here in the United States Americans still cannot muster sufficient resources (energy, rage and money...among others) to enact some common sense gun control regulations that would stop this country from being an international laughingstock. Seriously, our citizenry throw more of a fit over transgendered people's access to certain bathrooms than it does over the fact that we continually set records for more and more deadly mass shootings. How is that for priorities?
It is easy for me to feel incensed by the callousness and cowardice of my fellow Americans as well as so many of our members of Congress. I haven't seen any hard data to substantiate the feeling I am about to share but I will divulge it anyway. I feel as if Americans' capacity to give a s*** about their fellow Americans is at a terrible nadir. The murder of little children in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012 was apparently not sufficiently gruesome to galvanize this nation to pass some common sense reforms of our laws pertaining to the issue of gun violence. The slaughter of nearly fifty people in Orlando nine days ago was also apparently not enough to break Congress from its NRA induced waking dead trance.
Bearing unwitting witness to such horror leaves me wondering if something even more sinister is going on. Perhaps the NRA has secretly threatened members of our Congress. Maybe there is a deeper web of corruption and deceit that has not yet come to light here in America. It would be so nice if such corruption, if it does indeed exist, were exposed in the scorching light of our summer days. I think the United States may be one of the most short-sighted, self-absorbed nations in modern history. A hyperbolic assertion? Perhaps. But seriously, when the nation can move on and make no substantive change after innocent children are murdered you have to wonder what in the world is wrong with people???
As is not unusual for me to do I first wrote some of my sentiments on Facebook. Then, once my writing reached a certain length, I realized I needed to move on over to my blog. As I sit and ponder what happened in Orlando as well as reflect on all the gun related deaths of people across this nation I find myself mulling over these thoughts:
- What exactly will it take for our nation to collectively decide that all Americans should have a certain measure of safety and security?
- How many adult American citizens in this present day of June 21, 2016 were victimized by gun violence when they were children? How many of them developed PTSD? How many of them still have PTSD? What is the true cost of the public health crisis that is our nation's saga of gun violence?
- What do people like Wayne LaPierre and Mitch McConnell eat for breakfast? Radon?
- If you have no compassion in your heart can you still be correctly described as human?
- What responsibility should we ascribe to "media" sources such as Fox News for the current state of affairs?
- Would reforming the FCC (through reinstating the Fairness Doctrine for example) such that propaganda masquerading as news is eliminated or at least diminished help us step back from the brink?
These days I feel queasy at being an American.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I invite you to accompany me as I document my own journey of healing. My blog is designed to offer inspiration and solace to others. If you find it of value I welcome you to share it with others. Aloha!