Where Does This End?

Stressed?  Look at the kitten. LOOK AT HER!!!!

Among all the wonderful, magnificent aspects of Texas that are admirable, our sense of community is tops.  We are generally friendly and like a good party.  We love our sports, our barbecues, and our communities. A community becomes a tribe.  A clan.  A family.

And a great many of us, Texan or not, count our churches as part of that community.  In small towns, especially, a church becomes the heart of a community.  People come together in prayer, in fellowship, in sickness and in health. Young adults fall in love at church picnics, become a family, and they show up on Sundays with their children in tow.  Small towns have many faults, but their sense of community is not one of them. Which is why the news today, of a white man shooting up a small town church 30 miles southeast of me is so shocking.  The fact that the shooter apparently came from New Braunfels, a place I worked for twenty years, hits me in the gut.

A church is supposed to be a place of safety, of sanctuary.  Historically, people in Europe sought refuge in cathedrals, requesting sanctuary from persecution.  It was considered a grave sin to violate sanctuary, once given.  These days, we don't have the same concerns, but a church is still viewed as a place of refuge.  Safety.  Those who need help, who have nowhere else to go, find themselves at the doors of churches, seeking comfort.  And they usually get it.  Now that sense of peace, that sense of safety, is gone. All those people, raised in their faith to believe that their Lord would protect them from all evil, are feeling very afraid right now. If you can't find sanctuary in your church, your sense of community suffers. The heart is gone, replaced by what?

Where does this all end?  When do the NRA fanatics put aside their frenzied fight over their bastardization of the Second Amendment?  When do the "Liberal snowflakes" stop looking down on those who don't share their opinions?  Why are we even fighting about common sense gun control?  Why is this so difficult?  We are better than this.  We should all be able to be adults, come to the table and figure out what to do.

I wish that I could say that Texas was at the forefront of gun control legislation.  I wish that I could say the Lone Star state was committed to the safety of its citizens, and willing to listen to ideas and possible solutions.  I may not have any answers, but surely someone does.   But tomorrow, after all the empty platitudes about prayers being offered up for Sutherland Springs?  It will be business as usual, with the finger pointing and the blame being flung about. Nothing will happen to stop this from happening again, and again, and again.

Where does this all end?

We Are Not Brave Enough

I woke up this morning to hear the news of a mass shooting in Orlando, Florida,.  Mass casualties. A man went to an LGBT night club armed and willing to kill.  After sending messages to make sure that people that I know in the area were okay,  I thought about how many times I've rolled out of my bed to read similar headlines.  Too many to count.  Why is that?

We have not been brave enough.

As a nation, we have stood by too many times, while idiots with guns feel entitled to buy guns, wear guns, and randomly shoot those guns at who ever they want, whenever they want.  This has been happening for years.  Presidents shot. Children murdered. Coworkers killed.  And nothing changes.

We haven't been brave enough.

In the immediate aftermath, we have cried, held candlelight vigils, written op-ed pieces. Parents have held pictures of their children on television, asking for the violence to stop. Some people have actually stood up and demanded changes, formed political action groups, their voices soon drowned out by the next headline.  After a while, nobody hears them anymore.  And nothing changes.

We haven't been brave enough.

Open carry is allowed in Texas, and no one wants to stand up to the armed men and women who feel that carrying a gun is the only way to deter problems, in contradiction to most research by law enforcement.  Children are killed weekly because their inattentive parents think having a loaded gun in a purse or on the nightstand will protect their families from criminals.  And nothing changes.

We haven't been brave enough.

The NRA capitalizes on these shootings by shoving money at politicians, so they will subvert any reasonable possibility of gun control.  We as a nation know this, have known it. None of these politicians have been held accountable for being purchased by the gun lobby.  And still nothing changes. 

 We haven't been brave enough.

We haven't been brave enough to stand up to NRA lobbyists, to vote their political cronies out of office. We aren't brave enough to say 'no' to the overcompensating, entitled fools who seem to think that owning more guns equals a bigger penis.  Having too many guns is not the same as having too many shoes.

It takes courage to stand up.  It's much easier just to talk about it, and then forget. We haven't been brave enough to stand up and say "ENOUGH", and follow through with actions, such as monitoring and assistance for the mentally ill...and, yes, tougher, common sense gun laws.  If someone is mentally ill, they don't need to own a gun.  If a person is on any government watch list, they don't need to own a gun. Put GPS chips in all guns, fingerprint the owners, and monitor both.  It shouldn't be so easy for a random person to buy a gun without a background check, either.

Maybe all these suggestions won't stop all gun violence. Maybe there are better ideas out there. I don't have all the answers.  But we, as a nation, desperately need to find our courage, the guts to stand up.  It will take some hard decisions about who we are as a country and how we want the world to see us.  Without that, there will be no change at all, even as they are still counting the dead in Orlando.  

We need to be brave enough to at least try.

Getting Some Rants Off

You could say that 2012 was, to quote Dickens, the best of the times and the worst of times.  You could probably say that about every year, I bet, but I do like that quote. I could do some navel gazing about the past year, I suppose  I had a great year blogging.  I met a few people in the bloggysphere who I think the world of, and I've been able to participate in some great writing communities, such as Write On Edge and Trifecta.  I think that my writing skills have significantly improved thanks to the critiques and the comments of my fellow writers.  I certainly have felt more confident about trying new things, and I hope that I continue to learn and grow.

But today is the day for me to get some of the rants off my bloggy plate.  I often started a blog post with a rant about particular things.  I get riled up, as the saying goes.  But inevitably, I cool off, or get outraged about something else.  Eventually I have to turn off the television and stop watching the news.  So here are a few random rants.  I'm getting them off of my chest, setting them free, yada, yada, yada.  This way I can start the new year off with other stuff to rant about.  Lord knows there's always something to get riled up about!

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If my wish for a super power came true, and I had had the ability to psychically smack people upside the head, I would have been mentally slapping people left and right during the election.  People lost their minds, posting stuff on Facebook about Obama.  Most of it was barely concealed ignorant tripe or scare tactics that often bordered on blatant racism.  There is no place for racism in this day and age, and people who perpetuated it should be called on it.  Bring that hatred into the light of day and kill it dead.  And all that dung about Obama not being an American citizen?  That was downright insulting to my intelligence.  The whole election seemed to drain IQ points from the masses, if what was posted on Facebook was any indication.  Don't even get me started about Twitter. 

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I won't miss the NRA and their shenanigans.  I wish that they were gone, but they'll certainly recover from their sudden unpopularity because they throw stupid gobs of money at Washington.  There's been way too much innocent blood poured out over the last year for anyone to be standing behind the NRA anymore.  It's an antiquated organization that refuses to change with the times, and it therefore needs to die a quiet death in a corner and be buried like cat poop.  We as a nation should be embarrassed by the NRA, and shun it completely.  Yes, the Second Amendment says that a citizen has the right to bear arms.  The Second Amendment does not say a word about a citizen having an AK-47 or an assault rifle. 

Common sense gun control isn't about taking all the guns away, and people need to stop responding in a knee jerk fashion about it.  There's not a darn thing wrong with having a background check before you are allowed to buy a gun. What possible reason would a law-abiding person need to have a gun immediately, where they couldn't wait?   There's not a darn thing wrong with limiting the types of working guns that a person can own.  I can see no reason for anyone who is not in the military or law enforcement to own an assault rifle.   There is certainly not a darn thing wrong with having a national registry of gun owners available to law enforcement.  If your gun is stolen, wouldn't you like to know if it ends up being used in a crime?  

I don't own a gun, and I have no intention of owning a gun.  Well, maybe a shotgun, to shoot rock salt at the random Kirby vacuum representative who shows up at my door every week.  However, I think that owning a handgun creates a false sense of security and an illusion of power that doesn't actually exist. I refuse to drink that Kool-aid.   Most of my friends and family members own guns, however, and that's okay with me. I also don't care if my family or neighbors have guns; if the zombie apocalypse comes, I will be hanging out with my neighbors in the cul de sac for a modicum of protection. 

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Bullying is a huge topic this year.  All these kids are being bullied, I hear, and we must stop it.  Great.  I am all on board with helping kids.  But what about the adults who are bullied?  What about the bullies on the evening news, the ones screaming that if you don't agree with them then you are evil personified?  Doesn't that church in Kansas, the one that pickets the funerals of soldiers, qualify as a bully of a sort?  What about the 'volleyball moms' who deliberately leave a couple of kids' names off of a 'championship' t-shirt, to make those girls feel excluded?  What about a boss who screams at an employee or tells them that they should just feel lucky to have a job?  Doesn't that qualify as bullying?  What good is it for use to tell children not to bully? Vicarious learning is extremely powerful.  The kids do what they see us do.  If your child sees you do it, it must be okay.  I say that we need to take care of ourselves, get out own lives in order, per the bullying, before we get hyper focused on the lives of our kids. 

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Why is the Westboro Baptist Church even warranting any newsprint or mentions anywhere?  This is most certainly a hate group--they probably would tell you that themselves.  To badger people who have been dealt a significant blow--the death of a loved one--by saying that they deserved to die is heinous.  Yes, they are a church, and the First Amendment gives them rights to speak their minds.  But they preach hatred, not love.  They certainly are not Christians, and should be disavowed by all religions.  I am sure that this group craves attention, and they get it from picketing funerals and then slapping lawsuits onto people who try to keep them from being there.  So quit giving them attention.  Stop referring to them by name, stop filming them.  Don't give them air time at all.  The lack of publicity would kill them by suffocating the 'cash' cow.  So stop giving them that attention.  Starve them of it.  Let them be a candle placed in a jar with the lid welded on, so that the flame of their hatred sputters and is extinguished. 


That's it.  I got most of my rants out.  The rest I deleted.  I will start fresh in 2013.  Happy New Year, everyone!  I wish all of you a happy, prosperous, and exciting(in a good way) 2013. 

Spiders are Random too!

Ever since my husband found a scorpion in the toilet bowl one night,  I now have a random fear of getting bit on the butt by a scorpion who has suffered the indignity of falling into a toilet bowl.  With the light on, I can see what is happening, and there is a distinct sense of relief when, even with my eyes half closed, I can confirm that there are no scorpions in the vicinity.  We used to have a cat who would take care of those pesky critters for us, but she hasn't been around for a long time, and apparently the scorpions know this.

We've already been out shopping for school supplies for my son.  I've never actually had to buy school supplies, and I have to admit that the whole thing seems to be rather complicated.  For example, Zane is supposed to have a pencil without an eraser.  Where do you get those?  I don't think that I've ever seen one since the 70s.  It must exist, however, since it is on the list.   Also, my child starts school on August 13th.  I'm still having a crisis over that one, and will likely continue to freak out over it until long past that date.  Zane is supposed to have a box of tissues in his school supplies, but I may use that one on his first day!  Well, his first day and the day we have to write the check to pay for this private school/daycare.

 

Never trust someone who is completely confident about anything.  Even if I think I am right, I double and triple check myself.  I have never considered myself infallible on any topic, and if someone is trying to convince me that they're infallible, that gets my spidey-sense tingling. 

I believe that there is an over-reliance on guns to solve problems.  I am just going to put that out there. Use your brain, not a gun, is my thought on the matter, but I'm in the minority on this issue.  And like Jon Stewart says--if this isn't a time to discuss responsible gun ownership/gun control, when is?  I'd love to say that it would be possible to have an unemotional, intelligent conversation about it, but I know that's just wishful thinking.  People with guns probably shouldn't be riled up, anyhow.  

What is it about little kid hands?  If I let my son play with my phone, it is smeary and sticky when I get it back. I don't let him eat or drink while he's holding my phone.  Yet even when I make him wash his hands first--smeary and sticky.  Ick.  I can't even see the screen to make a phone call sometimes!  Is this just my kid?  I may start making him wear gloves before he is allowed to play Temple Run the next time.  

I am hooking up with Stacy Uncorked and the girls, Shawn and Impulsive Addict,  over at Talk To Us Tuesdays.  Go check them out!