I do not know when the events of last Friday, December 14th, 2012, will leave my mind. If they ever will... All I know is that children should never have to fear anything of that magnitude. How are you to ever tell your children there are no monsters when clearly there are in this world? How do you explain away or answer their little questions, full of innocence and the black and white world of children?
For the first time since I came of age, I was glad not to be a parent yet on Friday... I feared answering those questions. Questions I have seen on Facebook from friends and their children like "Why didn't Jesus save them? That wasn't nice of Him" or "Where was Santa? Doesn't he like children? He has helpers everywhere..." or the simple "Why didn't the police stop the bad man?"
Perhaps the world is to really end on Friday the 21st... what have we to show for it? What arguments could we make? The only things that make the news anymore are bloody, violent, and pure evil. I do not truly believe the world is meant to end... My calendar ends every year and I do not freak out... but my point is where is the good news? When will we learn? When will we learn that guns and mental illness need some serious rethinking and work in this country and around the world. Norway has had problems too... in recent years... violence and the criminal mind is not limited to just America. I just worry we stigmatize mental illness so much and hold guns so dear. According to ABC news, there are more gun stores in the United States than there are McDonald's restaurants. To me that is insane.
The second amendment to which so many cling to so dearly was written in a time and place vastly different than our own. One where men were meant to defend themselves from a vulnerable position as a fledgling nation, provide for their families, and certainly a place where the accuracy of weapons, particularly handguns or pistols was not that great. If the strictest of proponents want to own muskets and muzzle-loaders then great have at it. The founding fathers could never have fathomed this sort of thing happening... much less automatic weapons, assault rifles, sniper rifles, extend clips with quick release and reload.... on goes the list. These were and would have been fairy tale type weapons and likely considered widely unnecessary... Why on earth would they have needed a gun that could cut down trees? What kind of people have we become to hold so dearly to such a antiquated, misunderstood, and taken vastly out of context law?
As a writer I believe in freedom of speech; the good come with the bad. I can close my ears to what I do not want to hear. I believe the quote goes "I may not agree with what you say but I will fight to the death for your right to say it." I cannot apply this same sort of logic to the second amendment. So I ask you dear Belles, many of you I know grew up hunting and around guns, I did too... When will we learn? How many more Columbine's or now "Sandy Hooks" must there be before we realize the truth sitting in front of our face? How many more benchmark events of tragic, unnecessary death and violence must we have before our eyes are opened? A gun is meant for nothing more than to destroy living tissue. That is what my Daddee always taught us kids. As an object it is just a paperweight; when wielded by man it is a killing machine. That is the lesson we were given from the smallest memories. My father eventually got rid of all weapons in the house, even my grandaddy's shotgun, he no longer saw the need. Especially with all the violence around us all the time. So how much longer will we as a nation "sleep"? How many more children is this nation willing to use as currency to pay for this amendment, this antique right? How long must my heart and the hearts of so many be broken?
God bless y'all.... Happy Christmas. And please no matter your opinions, think about what I have said. Just give it a minute or two and think.
~a
PS: this video is so moving until the scream at the end.... highly unnecessary in my opinion but I warn you it is there.
nice post
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