As I sit and observe the chaos that surrounds us following the latest attack on yet another school, my heart is saddened, angered, cynical, and hopeful. My heart breaks for the lives lost and the countless others that are forever altered because of someone else's selfish actions. Generally, I don't watch the news. When I became a mother, the constant negativity and constant fear mongering was too much. I know just enough to get by without wanting to move my children and husband into a bubble and never come out. It infuriates me to watch the loss of life become a playground for political agendas. Yet after every single tragedy, the same political lines are drawn and rather than fighting for a solution, we fight each other; leaving us no better off than we were before the horrific occurrence.
I've seen students march to the capitol for gun control. I'm watching the most powerful people in our government listening more to what children are saying than adults. I'm watching adults act like children in the wake of tragedy. With the movement from students on guns, there's talk of lowering the voting age, all while talking of raising the age to buy a gun and purchase tobacco. Does this seem insane to anyone but me?
Let me get this straight: you are not old enough or responsible enough to vote or serve in our armed forces until you are eighteen years of age. You are not old enough or responsible enough to purchase and use alcohol until twenty-one years of age. There are proposals to up the age considered responsible enough to use tobacco to twenty-one as well as to purchase a gun. Yet we think we should let children barely old enough to drive determine the leaders of our nation. What am I missing?
Do I think we should be able to own guns. Yes. Our country was founded on principles that included our rights to bear arms. Do I think that as a private citizen I need an assault rifle, probably not so much. Do I think that legislating tighter reforms for law abiding citizens to purchase and own a gun is going to prevent and solve the problem of mass shootings? Nope, not a chance. Here's why: you can't legislate morality. You can't put enough laws into place to prevent people from making choices good or bad. You can make it more difficult for law abiding citizens to purchase guns, but that's not going to stop the criminals from getting them. Trust me, if they want them bad enough, they'll find them. Laws don't matter to them. If they did, the fear of the repercussions from their actions would be enough to prevent it, but it doesn't.
It's all a matter of how much you want to buy into the brainwashing the media does. Pretend like it doesn't happen, but fear and hot topics are what drive the media. A school or work place act of violence provides the perfect playground for them to feast.
The cry for mental health funding and services is constant. Yes, these services are vital. Perhaps some things could be prevented if there were more funding for these services. Perhaps the billions of dollars that politicians spend slandering one another could find better use being filtered there. There's a novel concept.
It's a sad fact in this day and age that electronics have made it so easy for people to detach from reality. Video games, virtual realities, social media have essentially wrecked the family unit. More and more studies are finding a link between depression and suicide with electronics and online usage. Isn't it about time we take back our kids? Isn't it about time we took back our families? We're becoming weaker and weaker buying exactly what is fed to us via the internet, not seeing what's dissipating right in front of us. Studies show strong family connections reduce depression and suicide which in turn reduces the likelihood of violence.
People it's time we wake up. Let's restore our hope. Let's restore our future. Stand up to the mindless fear that is being fed to make you conform. Find your strength. Find your courage. Don't sacrifice what so many fought so hard for because of fear. That's my two cents.
