It's happened again, an awful tragedy in which someone chooses to pick up a gun and harm others. Why? We ask. Some shout that the only answer is stricter gun control. They look to the government to "fix" it, all this senseless pain and loss, anger and resentment often wrongly placed.
Something jumped out at me today though, a blog post I read about how the most recent killer left this message online in reference of the past incident. He wrote: “On an interesting note, I have noticed that so many people like him are all alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are,”
Am I the only one who sees that guns aren't they problem here? I won't mention names because I don't wish to give them attention for a horrendous deed, but at the same time, my heart cries for them as much as it does for those good people who are destroyed by their awful choice to gain attention in such a vicious, ugly way.
Does society really not see it? Do we really put all blame on an inanimate object? Or is that just the easy way for us to feel that we're doing something to fix it.
I don't know what the fix is, but as for the answer to what's going on, I have a few thoughts.
Loss of hope.
We've always had guns and in my 43 years, I've always lived in communities with guns. Hunting was often how food was put on the table along with farming. There were no shootings at schools. Kids worked for the family businesses or helped relatives or had after school jobs. We learned that we could accomplish things through hard work, that we could get ahead, that we had some control of our lives.
What do people today face? Too many of us fear leaving our houses at night. Too many of us fear how to make the next mortgage or rent payment. Too many of us don't know where to get the food for the table. We tell our kids they can only have a good job if they get a good education and that good education puts them thousands and thousands of dollars in debt then too many get out only to find there are no jobs, or there are only low paying jobs. Others work like mad just to pay insurances and housing.
The saddest part about that is too many of these people feel invisible and hopeless.
They've either never learned they have power, or they've ended up in situations that leave them powerless to do anything different or more, or they work and work and work and get nothing from it, leaving them hopeless. I hear it all the time. Things keep getting worse, taxes, insurances, inflation, job losses, and the jobs that stay are not the ones we need. From my personal standpoint of having my own business, there are many MANY times I truly believe it would be less miserable to stop. All the red tape, taxes, etc, etc make it not worth it to even run a business. Is it the regulations, is it the fees, is it the... whatever. Whatever it is, we've lost too many of our jobs, the backbone jobs that took skill you could learn on the job and paid enough to live on. Too many of us simply feel like there is no getting ahead, there is no hope of something better.
How did things get like this? It wasn't always so. People always struggled, yes, but there was hope to reach for improvement. I'm not sure anyone believes in that hope any more. How many of us have given up and struggle only to make it from one month to the next, or one day to the next. How many of us are trapped in a miserable existence, not sure how to change it, lonely and tired of not being heard?
Perception of invisibility
On the other side of that, we need to realize we are not one of one. We are one of a whole. We are society. Everything we choose affects everyone and thing around us, but for some reason, too many of us have begun to feel like we affect nothing. Or that the things we do are somehow not valuable. If all we do all day is care for a child, that is one amazing thing. If all we do in a day is clean a public restroom, that is one amazing thing. (I think we all know how it feels to walk into a public restroom that hasn't been cleaned.) If all we do all day is dust our house and let dog in, let dog out, that is one amazing thing. No matter what you do or what your job, and even when there is no recognition or praise, it matters. It matters to the child, to the patrons who need the restroom, to the dog. You matter. We matter. And we need to start knowing that is enough. How many things we have, how big our house is, how new our car is - it doesn't matter. What matters is how you care for yourself and those around you whom you interact with.
You got fired for something ludicrous and no one seems to care. Pour your energy into finding something more suited for you. Reacting to do harm to others does no good.
I won't shout for gun control because I truly believe that is not the problem. Guns have always been here and saying every gun owner is a threat is not productive. It only breeds more anger and separation.
I shout out for true opportunity, not just the practiced mantra that it exists. I shout out that we may see our fellow men and women and truly "see" them, respect them, encourage them. Color, status, age, ethnicity, none of that matters, really. We all want the same thing.
We want to be known by someone.
I shout out for all of us to see need for the little things. We can't all be at the top. We need our farmers, our janitors, our butchers, our garbage men. May we willingly fill the role we best fit and serve the society we are part of to the best of our abilities.
And I shout out that we will, each of us, see the value in even the little jobs, or in the act of holding the door for another at a gas station.
We are not alone and not one of us is more valuable or less valuable than another.
