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We are an imperfect societyPosted Friday, December 14, 2012, at 8:59 PM
I, like so many other parents today, went home and hugged my child, and hugged her again. As news broke about the elementary school shooting in Conneticut my first thoughts were how sad. After all, isn't that an unspoken rule among human beings - don't hurt the children?
By the time I got home and watched more of the news the tears were pouring down my face and I had to tell my child how much I loved her and what happened. (Needless to say she was a little surprised with my hugs and I love yous so out of the blue on a Friday night). We as a society are left with questions no one can answer, though as usual we always try to answer them. Predictably there are the parents who decide they will home school from now on. Keep their kids out of harms way. No one blames them for this, the thought even crosses my mind. However, we can't protect our kids from everything - just thinking of all the horrible places gunman have been - malls, movie theaters, overpasses on busy roads, etc. makes any person shiver. Next you have the people that will cry for gun control/abolishment. If there are no guns nobody can get hurt right? Unfortunately this logic is flawed too. Have you ever watched any of those prison shows on History channel? The cops and inmates on those shows talk about how anything and everything can be made into a weapon - from pencils to toothbrushes, deadly weapons are made - and these weapons are evented by people that have no guns. Ask the Jews in Nazi Germany how not having guns/weapons worked for them. Look at places like Chicago that have very strict policies concerning guns and then look at the statistics on how the murder rate has shot up since the laws have been in place. Not having any weapons just leaves us open to more attacks, makes us fish in a barrel in other words for whatever enemey lies behind the door. We also find ourselves asking Where was God? Did he abandon us? I don't blame anyone for thinking this, even believing this, especially the relatives of the loved ones that lay dead in the school. The only gravity I find here and the answer that I have is that God is with the children in heaven, comforting them, and encouraging those of us left on earth to become better people. To find an error in our ways and help others to find it in theirs. There are no perfect answers here. In some ways there are no answers at all. The only answer is there is no perfect society, we never have been and we will never be. However long or short our time is on this earth though, we should do our best to make a difference in another's life. As always happens with a tragedy, the good stories will come to. The teachers who hurried to hide their students, the cops and medics that helped the injured and so on and so forth. While we are an imperfect society, we are very capable of doing a perfect thing for somebody else and these stories will prove it. On that note, my prayers go out to the families and loved ones of those injured and killed, to the cops and workers left to sort out the tragedy in the school, to the teachers and students that have to return once the tragedy is cleaned up, and to everyone else that tries to understand what and why this has happened. Comments Showing most recent comments first [Show in chronological order instead] |
I started blogging about my fun experiencing parenthood and have found it has evolved into more than just parenting - its an observation of life as we know it. I'm a bystander in this country just as we all are, and sometimes, opinions just need to be said without fear of being burnt at the stake.
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I do believe our fore fathers main intention for our right to keep and bear arms was to protect the citizens from their own government.
You can't blame the video games either. We did the same things when I was a kid except with toy guns or even sticks. We played cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians and even played army. Didn't make any of us go kill someone. There has to be some kind of predisposed mental illness to start with.
You are correct Gunner,justice can be very slow.
DonP and DonR you both are correct. I will say a gun of any nature did not cause this tragedy. A gun can't load itself nor can it pull it's own trigger. 16,000 people die every year from drunk drivers, 4500 die every year from cocaine and heroin use, and 440,000 die every year from tobacco use and these are all regulated as well. The point made by this is that these are all choices an individual makes bad or good. This young guy mad a choice and he took others with him in that choice. Capital punishment needs to be law of the land and let it be swift. Far too many convicted killers and we can read in the paper where the trial is neither swift nor fair to the victims. The first person shooting games should be outlawed but then another right is on the block and questioned. Why on earth should we allow a first person shooting game that depicts similar to the Columbine shootings.
DON R, - My point, when I said a gun didn't cause this incident, is that the gun (or any weapon) by itself, cannot be the cause. It is the effect, and only when manipulated by a human. Hence, humans cause these incidents. Yes, guns are too easy to come by.
I agree that there is no good reason for John Q. to own an assault weapon, or extended clips. I say so in my column which will be in Monday's Sentinel.
I also say that this problem will not go away with legislation - it will take culture change.
Sorry Don, guns did cause this tragedy, and many before this one, and I'm sad to say, many in the future. Sure a sharpened tooth brush can be a weapon, but how many mass murders in schools, malls and workplaces have been caused by this type of weapon. A gun has one use, to propel a projectile at a designated target to cause maximum damage. Tooth brushes, knives, hammers, baseball bats have other uses. That, they are used as weapons is unfortunate but it wouldn't be practical to put controls on the sale of them.
I don't have a problem with people having guns. Hunting, sports and even self-defence is fine. But assault weapons, spare me.....they have one place and it isn't, on your home soil, well not yet a least.
My problem is the watering down of mental health issues, far too often, the common denominator in these tragedies is the personality of the assailant and just how they have slipped below the radar and how easy it has been for them to access so many military style weapons. We used to have mental asylums where people were treated, now the do-gooders want them treated in the community, where they have access to weapons of mass destruction!
It is ironic that in the land of the free, children are locked up in schools all day to protect them while those who are out to harm them, walk freely on the streets.
These are the two areas that need addressing, then maybe a look a the second amendment. Those that want to take the amendment so literally are free to do so, as long as they go out and purchase a musket! Times have changed, what the fore-fathers were granting you was a very special privilege that has been stretched far beyond what I believe was intended.
The rights of the young and innocent to live a whole and full life should not be outweighed by the rights of a mentally unstable person to own an assault weapon.
My heart goes out to the people affected by this tragedy. Blame gets thrown around quite a bit in these circumstances. Guns, parents or whatever. Some people want to hold Adam's family at least partially accountable for not knowing what he was capable of doing. I don't know if they were fully aware of what their child is capable of or not. Try getting help for a child like that. Been there, done that. You get "I'm sorry we really can't help you, they haven't hurt anybody yet". I would like a dollar for every time that has been said! Sure you can have them committed, but they hold them for a short time. If they don't show any obvious signs of aggression or self harm, they are released. You can take them for counseling, but if the child refuses, nothing you can do. Not saying this was the case here, but people should jump to conclusions without knowing the facts.
Try googling "I am Adam Lanza's Mother"
A very well written, balanced piece. Guns didn't cause this tragedy, and a determined lunatic will find a way. It all begins in the home but most of us are not equipped to deal with what we know of this killer - so far.