THE TRAGEDY IN COLORADO has everyone talking. People are running the gamut of emotions. One person on Facebook believes we should set the shooter in front of a firing squad and televise his execution. When I suggested that the shooter is sick and in need of mental health assistance, this person basically said I was a pansy and being "politically correct" or something to that effect.
People are all about stricter gun laws. Probably a good idea, although I believe, if a criminal wants a gun, he's going to get one. Despite our laws, there is an entire subculture (possessing a barge-ful of contraband) that could give a rat's ass about the mandates of the land.
While there is no easy solution to the halting of senseless violence, I think the most heartbreaking comments are the ones where people believe humanity is on a downward spiral and that things are only going to get worse. This kind of woe-ism isn't healthy or accurate.
I spent many years incarcerated behind the metal bars of my own mental illness. I saw my entire world through the spectacle of anxiety and depression. I lived in fear of the "inevitable." Anxiety had me convinced that my life and the lives of my loved ones would end in violence. Depression had me convinced that avoidance was the solution. And there was no hope because things were only going to get worse.
Now, the bars have been opened and I'm free of what debilitated me for the first three decades of my life. So when I read or hear those, "the world is going to hell in a hand basket" statements, I cringe. They're not true and they just reinforce a collective sense of hopelessness.
The events at the Colorado movie theater were horrific and traumatic and my heart goes out to everyone involved, including the shooter who is clearly incarcerated behind his own bars of mental illness.
But the world is still a good place. Although all of us are subject to our own selfishness at times, I believe humanity is by and large, still decent, caring and giving. Just look at how the fellow movie goers tended to the wounded.
During times of sadness, I believe it's good to remember how lucky we are to be alive, to see blue sky, to feel the warmth of the sun, the coolness of a breeze, to experience the comfort of our loved one's arms around us. To believe that our neighbors would be there if we needed them just as we'd be there for them. In other words, to believe that humanity is still worthy of our devotion and trust. We can't let a tragedy take that away from us.
Your thoughts?
People are all about stricter gun laws. Probably a good idea, although I believe, if a criminal wants a gun, he's going to get one. Despite our laws, there is an entire subculture (possessing a barge-ful of contraband) that could give a rat's ass about the mandates of the land.
While there is no easy solution to the halting of senseless violence, I think the most heartbreaking comments are the ones where people believe humanity is on a downward spiral and that things are only going to get worse. This kind of woe-ism isn't healthy or accurate.
I spent many years incarcerated behind the metal bars of my own mental illness. I saw my entire world through the spectacle of anxiety and depression. I lived in fear of the "inevitable." Anxiety had me convinced that my life and the lives of my loved ones would end in violence. Depression had me convinced that avoidance was the solution. And there was no hope because things were only going to get worse.
Now, the bars have been opened and I'm free of what debilitated me for the first three decades of my life. So when I read or hear those, "the world is going to hell in a hand basket" statements, I cringe. They're not true and they just reinforce a collective sense of hopelessness.
The events at the Colorado movie theater were horrific and traumatic and my heart goes out to everyone involved, including the shooter who is clearly incarcerated behind his own bars of mental illness.
But the world is still a good place. Although all of us are subject to our own selfishness at times, I believe humanity is by and large, still decent, caring and giving. Just look at how the fellow movie goers tended to the wounded.
During times of sadness, I believe it's good to remember how lucky we are to be alive, to see blue sky, to feel the warmth of the sun, the coolness of a breeze, to experience the comfort of our loved one's arms around us. To believe that our neighbors would be there if we needed them just as we'd be there for them. In other words, to believe that humanity is still worthy of our devotion and trust. We can't let a tragedy take that away from us.
Your thoughts?
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On a lighter and totally unrelated note, friends and I attended the
Salem Art & Air Festival yesterday.
I had to get a photo of this vintage-esque snack cart.
Isn't it just colorful and fun?
