Bang Bang I Am Done

I discovered something about myself today. I am very stunned to find myself feeling the way I do. I have a lot of experience in many ways with the violence of the subject and I am at a lost. I am an easy-going spirit and want nothing but happiness for everyone but I am also a realist and know that is just not how life goes. I have to accept what I cannot change and deal with it but what if WE can change?

In Washington DC another round of shots, another round of injuries, another round of deaths, another round of questions, and another round of fighting. How is it that in the greatest country in the world we cannot have politicians that can sit down like adults, break down a problem, debate the points, and come up with “STEPS” to make things better? I sometimes believe we have become so big and potentially commercialized that our politicians cannot not make up their own mind about a problem without referring to their “SPONSORS” for an answer. I am not referring to the voters as the sponsors.  I am not on either side of the political fence. I am not for or against guns. What I am for is an honest attempt to change our direction. We are scared to lose guns. Some will say the government is going to take them all. REALLY? I paraphrase Christopher Titus on this point, “For that to happen all the politicians would have to agree on it and that ain’t happening” Guns are fine but just because it is a right does not mean that the process by which we get them and the types we use should not be evaluated. I don’t want us to lose guns but to take a real look at access and type obtainable. Mental Health is the next block in this domino rally. I believe the DC shootings were much more mental health than the weapon that was used. We live in a very fast society and because of that we are sometimes not as observant as we could be. Things get missed but when a doctor sees signs of an issue there should be no obstacles that prevent them from making sure a person is properly cared for. If the NFL can take head injuries seriously why can’t we take gun and health issues seriously?

Some of the children we have in office, on both sides, would rather be against something solely because of the person that had the thought than to listen to their point give a counterpoint and work it out.

So what did I discover about myself today? I realized on the way to work that I barely read or watched anything about the DC shootings. When Columbine, The DC Sniper, Boston Marathon, Newton, etc….occurred I was riveted to the TV. I was enraged. I was scared. I wanted to know more. For days I followed the stories. There were 16 mass school shootings last year and I probably followed them all. Why was DC different? It was different because I have become numb. I can compare it to watching too much of the same type of reality show. It starts with one wedding dress show and after a couple of years there are dozens and you get bored with it because you know the outcome. So after a shooting like DC you get news people playing their networks angles, images rehashed of people terrified, images of the injured, portraits of the dead, a story or two of a hero, and an hour special on what happened. Are the TV stations making money on an hour-long news documentary rehashing a two-day old story? Then there is the suspect story and it is stereotypical too. The suspect had many guns, a mental disorder, played video games, and oh yeah somewhere along the line something got missed in their life and someone pops up out of nowhere and says I knew something was wrong with him. Then finally the politic of it all rains on us all.  Some of these politicians are dreadful.

I have seen this movie before and I am numb. I do not have the appetite to watch things that make less sense as they unfold. We need a solution or least some steps to a better way. These things will never stop completely but there must be a better way. Fear of working together seems to be our biggest hurdle. There has to be a better way.