I had to deliberately resist, as I waited for my little brother to answer the phone last Monday night.
What I wanted to say was, "Hey, pretty sad news today, huh?"
"Yeah, it's terrible", he might have answered.
"Well Bro, you know if something like that ever happens on your campus, you should have a plan of what you're going to do."
But I caught myself just as he answered.
No, he shouldn't have a plan. No one should have to have a plan. What there should be is better gun control, better mental health care, community outreach, social programs.
Is it your constitutional right to bear arms? How can it be your right when it is just so fucking wrong? Wake up!
And sometimes there's just nothing you can do. You have to go on living like there isn't a tragedy waiting around the corner. We all have at least one waiting for us eventually, so let's just do what we can to take care of each other properly and then just live. Enough with the after-the-fact measures. They just won't do. How do people not see that?
And so the conversation went, "Hey Bro, pretty sad news today, huh?"
"Yeah, it's terrible."
"So have you booked your flight to Toronto yet?"
"Just this morning."
"That's great! I can't wait to see you."
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5 comments:
I was just blogsurfing when I came across yours. Yeah i agree with everything you had to say. All we can do is live each day to the fullest and as you said, look out for one and other. This country spends too much time focusing on and spending money on things it should'nt when it should be helping recieve free healthcare or better healthcare. The strange thing is though this guy Cho had a shrink in the past and as you may know, sent a video to the police before the killing spree. Where were their priorities. I love this country...but it's fucked up.
it's not way too complicated to just call for an end to the "right to bear arms." there's no easy solution even if there WAS a miraculous ban. "gun-free" zones have proven to be disastruous. i'm in no way an advocate for bearing firearms; just realizing that it's not as easy as banning them. think of black market sales. really, for any product. if someone wants to get something, he will get it. mental health services are just as tricky. guess what i'm trying to say is that if someone really is set upon doing this kind of damage...he will do it. make no mistake. he will find a way to do it. all it takes is some ammonium nitrate/agricultural fertilizer to take down hundreds of innocents. i don't have answers for this kind of stuff. i don't really think there are any. the ones who bang their heads against the walls to try to find them, do so into eternity. it's tragic. what has happened, and what WILL happen (because it will continue to happen)...it's all tragic.
just realized i mis-typed the first sentence: "it's now way too complicated..."
sorry.
Banning guns isn't going to stop someone who's set and determined, but in this case, for example, it might have taken longer to get things done. It would be a far greater challenge for someone who is psychotic to make the kind of connections and plans that aqcuiring a gun might entail if they weren't legal. It would have likely been difficult enough to delay things and then if there were all of the other services in place...maybe it would have been enough. Maybe. Surely the number of gun-related "accidents" or "incidents" would be decreased. That's not a question. Sounds good enough to justify a gun-free zone to me.
Oh, and JP thanks for stopping by. And of course you too lx, but that can go without being said.
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