“Are we a society that readily accepts these acts as routine?” and “are we convinced this type of massacres is a fair price for the freedom to bear any arms?” asked President Obama the other night… I ask, additionally, are we convinced this type of massacres is a fair price to pay for the freedom of expression (1st Amendment), behind which all the producers of the most violent and realistic computer games and movies hide? It seems that some unstable people cannot tell when the game ends and reality begins…
Ike said “we cannot legislate morality”; very true. Along the same lines, we cannot legislate regard and respect for human life, or common sense, or sense of responsible citizenship either. But, even though I am convinced that more gun laws alone would never fix this problem, I am also convinced they can certainly be part of the solution; the Framers of the Constitution, when drafting the 2nd Amendment, did not mean for anybody to have the right to own arms designed for the military or law enforcement, or having a battery Patriot missiles in their back yard, or having nuclear bombs in the barns… And, in addition to laws and their proper enforcement, something more primordial and organic must change/mutate/evolve in our collective minds and souls in order for this type of tragedies to become a thing of the past, and certainly not to become a once-a-year routine!
Football? Not in the mood for it…
Politics? Not this week; I am sure next week another clown would say something worth getting a chuckle on…
Food for thought…
“When feelings/opinions/counsel become irrelevant, the relationship is over”
- Anonymous
So, stay thoughtful, my friends…
Eloquently put, Miguel, as usual, and obviously heart felt. Our individual social contracts with each other and our government need reexamination and restoration. This can only be done if we are willing to invest the time and money necessary to understand and overcome the root causes of this decay. I for one am more than ready to support this investment, and any candidate for public office that is also willing to. The analysis may take us to guns or video game violence or failure to even look for early warning signs in mental illness. But surely we can all agree that things are not okay the way they are, and that we ought to work the problem.
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