It's Just Another Day When Crazy is Mightier than the Sword Thing

Dear America,

happy wednesday, everyone.

[i know, i know...it's not really, so call me crazy for picking daisies; these are some heavy, heart-wrenching days]

Now, the holidays can be an emotional time of year under normal circumstances; add a small town tragedy that makes absolutely no sense in the world, we begin to twirl in place like a spinning top venturing it's way to the table's edge. plop.

News coming out of Newtown continues on a solemn trajectory, each day building upon the last, as we bury our babies and loved ones. It's an unimaginable task forced upon the families and community.

However, there is some welcome news.   We have become more aware of the details leading up to the Sandy Hook attack. It turns out -- bearing in mind what we discussed just yesterday --  Adam's mama did know.  She was shouldering the burden of committing her own son, and in the midst of getting the lawful authority to do so.   This very reality facing the family is believed to be the catalyst to set off the horrific chain of events. 

[Of course, how on earth Adam was able to commandeer the guns from the household, we may never know.]

But this new knowledge, learning of the depth of awareness inside the Lanza home, should give us pause.   This parent died in the process of doing all the right things, God rest her soul.  Can you just imagine what she is thinking about right now, in heaven?   Just the thought of it --  'my son, being responsible for something so incredibly awful.'     And, not to be overlooked,  there is still the father and brother and extended family remaining to pick up the pieces.  

The thing is, it is comforting to know that she recognized Adam's problems; she was well aware that his issues had reached a level that she could no longer handle on her own.   That is good news.  That means the family was working through it to the best of their abilities.  How can we ask anything more? 

[Of course, how on earth Adam was able to commandeer the guns from the household, we may never know.]

You know, there was another shooting -- in a Clackamas, Oregon shopping mall -- in this same week (Dec.11).  Three people were killed.  Come to find out, a second man, Nick Meli -- just a guy, lawfully able to carry a concealed weapon -- was at the mall at the same time.  When the shooting broke out, he went to the scene.  He was going to take a shot at the masked gunman, but realized there was a possibility, if he missed, that he might hit an innocent person; so he didn't shoot.  He just kept the gunman in his sights.   It is said that the shooter, then fully aware he wasn't the only gun in town, turned the gun on himself.   For the full story, go here.

But isn't that amazing.   Another gun on the scene stopped the violence.


In other news, did you know, crazy people are not lawfully able to obtain, let alone carry, a weapon in the state of California; and having said that,  neither are felons or anyone under even a routine court ordered restraining order?    And yet, somehow, some way, and many times over, these people still find a way to get a gun.

How?

Because even though the majority of us follow the law, go through the proper channels to arm ourselves legally and properly, if we so desire -- a minority of the population doesn't operate under the same rules. 

The street still caters to the underworld.  
And this reality will never go away. 

We can amend, rewrite, add...all the gun laws in the world...but this just guarantees the underworld to not only stay the same, it gives permission and plenty of room for this undermining sub-culture to get worse, expand, even prosper off of our ignorance.   Lawlessness will have the upper hand, the more the law abiding gives the right of way to the corrupt. [this theory works with regards to Congress, too]

America is at a tipping point. 

and sure, it is a phrase overused these days... shoot me.

we are spinning out of control in every way.

we are spinning, twirling, fluttering about, atop a fiscal cliff, a mountain of debt, on the precipice of cultural decay with enough emotional and spiritual dysfunction to light up the dinner table for centuries to come.

we are all crazy to put up with this nonsense.  [and how ironic, considering we made this crazy town in the first place]

America is at a tipping point...which way will we go?

It's time to straighten up and fly right, even if it sends this top right off the edge; let's take the fall together and land wherever we may land; hopefully, with any luck, that looks a lot like each of us ending up on our own two feet  -- or, just maybe,  growing a pair of wings.

And yet, this girl is still so unsettled...  
As a mama, as an American, let us be reminded of the weight of the world to walk in another's shoes -- Adam Lanza could have belonged to any one of us just as much as little Charlotte Bacon. 

Let's quickly move into a higher realm of contemplation.    John Adams wrote:

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."

And from Alexander Hamilton:

"It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force."

That is some strong stuff, considering all that we are spinning around, to and fro, these days. The universe of our 'woe' is growing exponentially faster, and mightier, than the expansion of our good... just sayin'.

good self-government
walking hand in hand with good [limited] government --
this is the only way to guarantee real liberty.

What is crazy:  that our government today would never have us believe it could be this simple. 

Make it a Good Day, G