I have hesitated about commenting on the latest slaughter of innocents in San Bernardino, California. It is not for lack of empathy, but because I am simply overwhelmed by the violence. And very few will see what I write, and it will soon be forgotten.
Beyond yesterday's slaughter, recent killings include the Planned Parenthood massacre in Colorado, at a town I visited and really liked. It is near the magnificent Garden of the Gods. On the same day, ISIS released another beheading video, this of a Russian journalist.
Of course, there was Paris a week ago. And since Columbine, there have been so many school shootings such as at Sandy Hook. And there have been mall shootings – including at a mall my son and former wife surely have gone to. And the theaters. And the streets. And in homes.
As I write this, I am listening to the news. There was a shooting in Brooklyn, killing three. Police say it was a man killing his girlfriend, her lover, and then himself.. I can't help but wonder how many of these lesser taking of lives, numbering about 30,000 every year in the United States, are no longer shocking. We are nearly immune to these things. They have become common place. Perhaps it is because many of us have killed tens of thousands of video game characters.
Politically, the insanity continues. As the Republicans yet again attempt to end Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood, they ignore the issues of crime and refuse to take the slightest steps to stop crazy people from getting guns. And the NRA's mission seems to be to keep assault weapons for hunters. The United States has 283 MILLION guns in civilian hands!
It’s just too much to comprehend at one time. How do we stop terrorism? How do we end the political gridlock? How can we keep guns away from madmen?
And I can’t help but think that humanity is now involved in a new Darwinian version of survival. The violent will destroy the peaceful. And the only way for the peaceful to survive is to fight back, becoming violent.
I have also come to realize that the extremists of various religions care little about God. It’s all about power. Here, fundamentalist Christians use abortion, Obama, and gun control to gain political control of the nation. Elsewhere, ISIS and its cousins use control of women; hate for America, and weaponizing to control what it can. In this season, I ask whatever happened to “peace on earth and good will towards men?”
And the peaceful are dying. Not only here in the United States, but elsewhere. Europe is being overrun by those who flee Syria and ISIS.
Personally, I had enough of weapons when I was in the Army. I don’t hunt, but I like to fish. But I am now thinking of arming myself. In my mind, I will be ready to protect myself. And if I do, I becoming part of the problem.
Personally, I had enough of weapons when I was in the Army. I don’t hunt, but I like to fish. But I am now thinking of arming myself. In my mind, I will be ready to protect myself. And if I do, I becoming part of the problem.
I also ask myself if I really want to live in a world like this? When I was in high school, I once proposed in a debate that the best way to control nuclear weapons was to have an all-out nuclear war. We would be rid of the weapons and the people who use them. A perfect Darwinian solution.
But that won’t stop insanity. Without violence, how we would have dealt with Hitler’s Nazis, an older version of ISIS? I have said, “Kill them all.” But I know we can’t and whatever doesn’t kill them also makes them stronger.
So I have another reason to be grateful that I’m getting old. I won’t live to see much more of this. But I fear for the survival of my sweet granddaughter. I wonder if she will someday live in some sort of dystopian society. And I ask myself if we are entering such a time.
Humanity surely has had other eras of social chaos. The Dark Ages in Europe; the world wars of the 20th century; the near-annihilation of native Americans through European disease – not to mention AIDS in Africa. Civilizations rise and fall, and violence is its catalyst. Is it our destiny to repeat the same mistakes in a never-ending cycle?
Humanity surely has had other eras of social chaos. The Dark Ages in Europe; the world wars of the 20th century; the near-annihilation of native Americans through European disease – not to mention AIDS in Africa. Civilizations rise and fall, and violence is its catalyst. Is it our destiny to repeat the same mistakes in a never-ending cycle?
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” – Solomon, Ecclesiastes 1:9
I can only cling to the words that make a happy man sad and a sad man happy. “This too, shall pass.” این نیز بگذرد , ironically an adage coming from ancient Persian poets. And so will I.
