Dear America,
And no -- this girl is not at all sure this is where she wants to start today -- but there it is.
Seems to me, the answer to just about anything that could potentially harm us is to simply ban it; confiscation and censorship, or bust -- how's that for a modern nation's motto? It's a twist on New World meets Old Dominion, that's what that is. And so much for lady liberty; she's out... so two thousand two, you know.
Aw, it was good while it lasted, right?
It's not about the 32 oz. soda, just as it's not about the gun.
With this kind of logic, we would have to recommend that Iraq and Afghanistan stop using any mass transit whatsoever, if not cease and desist all forms of transportation by wheel. Cars and buses kill people -- and are especially drawn to the greatest potential for damage, like anywhere any large number of people gather, like the open marketplace, church or mosque.
No. It's more having to do with the kind of people we are raising...the kind of people we have become.
What is a weapon anyway?
A gun, a kitchen cleaver, scissors, a various mix of noxious household chemicals, a cast iron frying pan... a car, bus, train or plane....arson, gas leaks...even pillows.....Of course, we can also meander into the long, slow death of drugs and alcohol, over-eating, smoking, giving way to a whole host of diseases and ailments of the young and old alike. And then again, there's always Kool-Aid. Weapons of mass destruction can be so unassuming, can't they?
The weapon of choice is inanimate. We, the people, possess the power to give it life and existence, whether it be to harm or to save us from harm -- or simply to use as the object as it is intended and with extra loving care.
Humanity gives life to the thing. More important, the kinds of things we should be asking ourselves is far more gut-wrenching, because it requires us to take full responsibility for our own humanity.
What kind of people have we become? Where do we gain our strength of good character? How do we teach and multiply a life of virtue and principle? How does our goodness grow? How do we protect ourselves from evil?
The thing is, in the wake of such tragedy, of course the knee jerk reaction is to take away the gun, the so-called cause. But in this way, it would be just like instituting a second round of prohibition to answer the slaughter of innocents from drunk driving, when, in fact, the alcohol is not the problem. The problem is directly related to the overall health of our community -- be it economically, spiritually, emotionally, culturally -- beginning at the root (with our own family) and extending all the way out to the Oval Office.
As always here on the G thing... I like to speak in relation how this equates to my own little world -- the responsibility falls on me to raise my girl to not only be an actualized, healthy participant in everyday life, but a decent citizen. While I must heed my own advice and be my own healthy participant in everyday life and a decent citizen.
The thing is -- the truth is -- I can't do it alone. I can't do this all by myself [for as we all know -- in real life, there are plenty of outside influences to warp the mind, happening all around us].
As a card-carrying member of club humanity, it takes a considerable amount of guidance, good stuff, higher influences and wisdom to pull it off.
But hypothetically speaking, let's just say little old g thing goes a wee bit cuckoo and falls off her rocker one day (save it...hearing the roaring laughter in the crowd... believing G's already there...it's cool...) -- but let's say it happens. I think my mama (among many others) would be on it like white on rice. You see where I'm going with this....
We have to rely on our immediate circle of friends, family, countrymen to truly see us. It's as if we have our own Checks and Balances built into the mechanism of our community and culture. It begins within a very tight radius, indeed. While if our own family is of no use to us -- the rings of community expands and extends to our schools, churches, and community organizations where it's entire purpose for being is to lift up the fallen (like The United Way, The Salvation Army...and in our town, Father Joe's Villages).
The early diagnosis as to the mental state of the shooter is not a healthy one -- reports citing personal information about the family claim the 20 year old suffered from Aspergers Syndrome, even though "no evidence of medication" was prescribed. Another story outlines his mother's concern, fearing she was "losing him."
The Aurora shooter, showed signs.
The Columbine shooter (s), showed signs.
But let's be real. Healthy people would no more go shoot up a school, movie theater, public arena of any kind, even if in possession of war chest of guns and ammo simply because it is not what healthy people do.
From the Guardian, here's some good gun stats from around the world.
And from the other side, here's an excerpt from a blog on the HuffPost, from Clarence B. Jones:
Now the entire post slants towards greater gun control -- but having cited Oakland and Chicago, two areas with some of the stiffest gun laws in the country, the argument falls short when lined up side by side with how gun control plays out in reality. In real life, the bad guy can always get a hold of a piece.
And yet, this isn't the sticking point I wish to cling to with all my might... Let's go back to a stat thrown into the everyday in America -- "that every day guns kill at least 24 people in America. Over several weekends in Oakland, California and Chicago, just to name a few, more than 20 school age children are killed."
Adding: "Most of these gun victims are African-Americans killed by other African-Americans, without the apparent wealth of suburban Newton, Conn, When these instances of gun violence occur, no flag at the nation's capital is flown at half-mast, and the president of the United States does not address the nation."
Just close your eyes now and imagine this kind of reality. This is some powerful stuff. And it should hit us just as hard as the tragedy of Sandy Hook. And yet it is basically ignored by the mainstream media, the Department of Justice, the office of the President ... even the mom's and dad's and civic mentor's of the immediate community. The deafening chorus of silence is frightening.
So I must say, really like where Clarence is going with this snippet:
As a whole, we lack a certain reverence to life itself. We treat life as fully disposable, unless you are on the endangered animal list. We suck the life force born naturally into every human being, indoctrinating them with school curriculum hellbent on taking personal responsibility out of the equation. We have built a wall between the connection of teaching our boys and girls by the golden rule (heaven forbid, any of the ten commandments...even if they do make all the sense in the world when raising young, impressionable minds). We honor our humanity with a moment of silence before a football game, but set aside a moment of silence for reflection and prayer and deeper thought before the start of a school day...fuggetaboutit.
At least in the olden days, our children would see that the good guys win in the end -- be it in movies, and even cartoons, not to deny or diminish simply having the experience of living in United States of America, the leader of the free world and quintessential good nation in motion. We lived it!
[today, we bear witness to terrorists winning in all corners of the world...we bear witness to gansta's living large in our cities...we bear witness to America being taken down a notch or two, be it our stature, character, influence, or strength]
We are falling, and failing, by lowering our standards to the lowest common denominator, and it's beginning to ripple and swell into the crevasses and the finer cracks of humanity much like the visual furnished to us by Clarence..."like molten lava beneath the surface of society just waiting to erupt."
Until we learn how to better care for our own and ourselves, from the inside out, and really fix the level of our dysfunction along with the real potential for destruction, the more vulnerable to violations we will grow. It's an elaborate, convoluted, deeply marred manifestation -- with decades of divorce, incest, abuse, mental illness, family dysfunction, emotional limitations, and plenty of spiritual voids -- and now, painfully, uncomfortably, generation over generation, we are witnessing how this equates to the creation of our reality in the everyday.
It's not about the gun, or the 32 oz. soda. It's not about the object we place into our hands -- it's about what we choose to do with it. But before we get there, it becomes more a question or concern as to what we feed our minds, our hearts, our homes, our soul long before we pull the trigger or take so much as a sip.
Just when will we have a Frank and Birdee conversation about that aspect?
Or will it be just set aside -- like the kicking of the proverbial can down the proverbial road much like we have handled our nation's massive debt and overspending predicament. Now talk about killing our children softly....
Oh America.... "it's the worst kind of extravagances the way you spend your chances."
Make it a Good Day, G
"It's the worst kind of extravagances
the way you spend your chances."
Gena Rowlands to Sandra Bullock --
or shall we say,
just a typical "Mama to Birdee" exchange
in Hope Floats...
And no -- this girl is not at all sure this is where she wants to start today -- but there it is.
Seems to me, the answer to just about anything that could potentially harm us is to simply ban it; confiscation and censorship, or bust -- how's that for a modern nation's motto? It's a twist on New World meets Old Dominion, that's what that is. And so much for lady liberty; she's out... so two thousand two, you know.
Aw, it was good while it lasted, right?
It's not about the 32 oz. soda, just as it's not about the gun.
With this kind of logic, we would have to recommend that Iraq and Afghanistan stop using any mass transit whatsoever, if not cease and desist all forms of transportation by wheel. Cars and buses kill people -- and are especially drawn to the greatest potential for damage, like anywhere any large number of people gather, like the open marketplace, church or mosque.
No. It's more having to do with the kind of people we are raising...the kind of people we have become.
What is a weapon anyway?
A gun, a kitchen cleaver, scissors, a various mix of noxious household chemicals, a cast iron frying pan... a car, bus, train or plane....arson, gas leaks...even pillows.....Of course, we can also meander into the long, slow death of drugs and alcohol, over-eating, smoking, giving way to a whole host of diseases and ailments of the young and old alike. And then again, there's always Kool-Aid. Weapons of mass destruction can be so unassuming, can't they?
The weapon of choice is inanimate. We, the people, possess the power to give it life and existence, whether it be to harm or to save us from harm -- or simply to use as the object as it is intended and with extra loving care.
Humanity gives life to the thing. More important, the kinds of things we should be asking ourselves is far more gut-wrenching, because it requires us to take full responsibility for our own humanity.
What kind of people have we become? Where do we gain our strength of good character? How do we teach and multiply a life of virtue and principle? How does our goodness grow? How do we protect ourselves from evil?
The thing is, in the wake of such tragedy, of course the knee jerk reaction is to take away the gun, the so-called cause. But in this way, it would be just like instituting a second round of prohibition to answer the slaughter of innocents from drunk driving, when, in fact, the alcohol is not the problem. The problem is directly related to the overall health of our community -- be it economically, spiritually, emotionally, culturally -- beginning at the root (with our own family) and extending all the way out to the Oval Office.
As always here on the G thing... I like to speak in relation how this equates to my own little world -- the responsibility falls on me to raise my girl to not only be an actualized, healthy participant in everyday life, but a decent citizen. While I must heed my own advice and be my own healthy participant in everyday life and a decent citizen.
The thing is -- the truth is -- I can't do it alone. I can't do this all by myself [for as we all know -- in real life, there are plenty of outside influences to warp the mind, happening all around us].
As a card-carrying member of club humanity, it takes a considerable amount of guidance, good stuff, higher influences and wisdom to pull it off.
But hypothetically speaking, let's just say little old g thing goes a wee bit cuckoo and falls off her rocker one day (save it...hearing the roaring laughter in the crowd... believing G's already there...it's cool...) -- but let's say it happens. I think my mama (among many others) would be on it like white on rice. You see where I'm going with this....
We have to rely on our immediate circle of friends, family, countrymen to truly see us. It's as if we have our own Checks and Balances built into the mechanism of our community and culture. It begins within a very tight radius, indeed. While if our own family is of no use to us -- the rings of community expands and extends to our schools, churches, and community organizations where it's entire purpose for being is to lift up the fallen (like The United Way, The Salvation Army...and in our town, Father Joe's Villages).
The early diagnosis as to the mental state of the shooter is not a healthy one -- reports citing personal information about the family claim the 20 year old suffered from Aspergers Syndrome, even though "no evidence of medication" was prescribed. Another story outlines his mother's concern, fearing she was "losing him."
The Aurora shooter, showed signs.
The Columbine shooter (s), showed signs.
But let's be real. Healthy people would no more go shoot up a school, movie theater, public arena of any kind, even if in possession of war chest of guns and ammo simply because it is not what healthy people do.
From the Guardian, here's some good gun stats from around the world.
And from the other side, here's an excerpt from a blog on the HuffPost, from Clarence B. Jones:
"This is prima facie evidence that the NRA operates in a parallel alternative universe detached from the 24/7 realities in which the rest of us live. Some of the stats of our reality are that every day guns kill at least 24 people in America. Over several weekends in Oakland, California and Chicago, just to name a few, more than 20 school age children are killed.
Most of these gun victims are African-Americans killed by other African-Americans, without the apparent wealth of suburban Newton, Conn, When these instances of gun violence occur, no flag at the nation's capital is flown at half-mast, and the president of the United States does not address the nation.
But it's not the NRA that is singularly or principally responsible for gun violence in our nation. Yes, it is an effective powerful lobby for gun ownership and the lawful use by individuals of guns in their homes. But other people and organizations also bear their share of culpability.
On more the one occasion I have said that violence lies like molten lava beneath the surface of society just waiting to erupt."
Now the entire post slants towards greater gun control -- but having cited Oakland and Chicago, two areas with some of the stiffest gun laws in the country, the argument falls short when lined up side by side with how gun control plays out in reality. In real life, the bad guy can always get a hold of a piece.
And yet, this isn't the sticking point I wish to cling to with all my might... Let's go back to a stat thrown into the everyday in America -- "that every day guns kill at least 24 people in America. Over several weekends in Oakland, California and Chicago, just to name a few, more than 20 school age children are killed."
Adding: "Most of these gun victims are African-Americans killed by other African-Americans, without the apparent wealth of suburban Newton, Conn, When these instances of gun violence occur, no flag at the nation's capital is flown at half-mast, and the president of the United States does not address the nation."
[G's also gonna assume that Clarence B. Jones is a decent journalist and has done his homework on this...I will take him at his word -- that when he says "most" we are dealing with truth -- as general as it may sound to the naked ear]
Just close your eyes now and imagine this kind of reality. This is some powerful stuff. And it should hit us just as hard as the tragedy of Sandy Hook. And yet it is basically ignored by the mainstream media, the Department of Justice, the office of the President ... even the mom's and dad's and civic mentor's of the immediate community. The deafening chorus of silence is frightening.
So I must say, really like where Clarence is going with this snippet:
"But other people and organizations also bear their share of culpability.
On more the one occasion I have said that violence lies like molten lava beneath the surface of society just waiting to erupt."
As a whole, we lack a certain reverence to life itself. We treat life as fully disposable, unless you are on the endangered animal list. We suck the life force born naturally into every human being, indoctrinating them with school curriculum hellbent on taking personal responsibility out of the equation. We have built a wall between the connection of teaching our boys and girls by the golden rule (heaven forbid, any of the ten commandments...even if they do make all the sense in the world when raising young, impressionable minds). We honor our humanity with a moment of silence before a football game, but set aside a moment of silence for reflection and prayer and deeper thought before the start of a school day...fuggetaboutit.
At least in the olden days, our children would see that the good guys win in the end -- be it in movies, and even cartoons, not to deny or diminish simply having the experience of living in United States of America, the leader of the free world and quintessential good nation in motion. We lived it!
[today, we bear witness to terrorists winning in all corners of the world...we bear witness to gansta's living large in our cities...we bear witness to America being taken down a notch or two, be it our stature, character, influence, or strength]
We are falling, and failing, by lowering our standards to the lowest common denominator, and it's beginning to ripple and swell into the crevasses and the finer cracks of humanity much like the visual furnished to us by Clarence..."like molten lava beneath the surface of society just waiting to erupt."
Until we learn how to better care for our own and ourselves, from the inside out, and really fix the level of our dysfunction along with the real potential for destruction, the more vulnerable to violations we will grow. It's an elaborate, convoluted, deeply marred manifestation -- with decades of divorce, incest, abuse, mental illness, family dysfunction, emotional limitations, and plenty of spiritual voids -- and now, painfully, uncomfortably, generation over generation, we are witnessing how this equates to the creation of our reality in the everyday.
It's not about the gun, or the 32 oz. soda. It's not about the object we place into our hands -- it's about what we choose to do with it. But before we get there, it becomes more a question or concern as to what we feed our minds, our hearts, our homes, our soul long before we pull the trigger or take so much as a sip.
Just when will we have a Frank and Birdee conversation about that aspect?
Or will it be just set aside -- like the kicking of the proverbial can down the proverbial road much like we have handled our nation's massive debt and overspending predicament. Now talk about killing our children softly....
Oh America.... "it's the worst kind of extravagances the way you spend your chances."
Make it a Good Day, G
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