America's Shame
As long as greed is stronger than compassion, there will always be suffering. ~Rusty Eric
(Note: I’m currently out of town, and my post on Tuesday, March 28th, was written and scheduled ahead of time to publish automatically. This happened several hours before I finally learned of the Nashville shootings. I’m not online much when spending time with family. I would have canceled the post because it feels grotesque to banter about one’s cat when yet another massacre stains our country with the blood of innocent children. This is my only regret in not keeping up with the news; so much of it is bleak and depressing.)
Her face tells the story.
The sheer terror of a child who has experienced something no person should. The loss of innocence in one of the most violent ways possible. Who knows how the after-effects will negatively impact her future and those of all the children and staff involved? Regardless, the memory of this day will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
Her face, twisted with agony, reflects the grief of families who lost their loved ones in an act of unhinged anger. Anger by a mentally unstable person who didn’t get whatever help they needed in time to prevent this unthinkable tragedy. A sick person who so easily purchased a weapon solely designed for a battlefield.
A grimace of devastated shock and disbelief, her hand splayed against the window in a gesture of…helplessness? Perhaps it’s a defensive posture against the nightmare she just experienced. Or maybe she feels trapped in that nightmare, forced into a horrifying situation of someone else’s choosing.
As an American, I understand all three.
This widely circulated photo has come to embody, I believe, what many of us in the States are feeling. That lust for money, power, and a perverse obsession with guns, by the few outweighs the safety and preservation of life for our entire society.
And it is perverse. It has nothing to do with protecting one’s family and property. Nor does it have to do with hunting unless humans are the prey.
This is America’s shame.
The powerful few have manipulated a segment of the population into believing that ownership of assault weapons by everyday citizens is a protected right under the Constitution.
They’ve capitalized on the anger of people who feel disenfranchised and convinced them that fascism is the better way. Donald Trump’s rally in Waco, TX, this past Saturday speaks volumes. It was scheduled for the 30th anniversary of the raid on the Branch Davidian doomsday cult, which has come to represent government overreach to those on the far right. (No matter that they were stockpiling weapons and their leader was a pedophile who ‘married’ underage girls and fathered children with them.)
I remember saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag each morning throughout my school years. I believed our country was exceptional in its quest for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all citizens. It certainly wasn’t perfect, but we were the model for so many others who wanted the same things.
I took so much for granted then. But not now. I’m disgusted and sick and terrified that the American experiment will fail. Dark forces disguised as ‘Christians’ in the Radical Right have been working methodically over the past 50+ to shape our country into something unrecognizable.
An excellent book to consider that examines this plan is Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean. An explosive exposé of the right’s relentless campaign to eliminate unions, suppress voting, privatize public education, stop action on climate change, and alter the Constitution.
This sixty-year campaign to make libertarianism mainstream and eventually take the government itself is at the heart of Democracy in Chains. . . . If you're worried about what all this means for America's future, you should be. —NPR
I’ve been around long enough to know that none of us is exempt from the violence occurring in our country today. I worry about my grandchildren, who are entering school in the next few years. I worry anytime I enter a building or large group: the grocery store, post office, a concert hall, etc. We aren’t safe anywhere anymore. And at the root of all this evil is money. Follow the money.
Sometimes I want to pack up and seek citizenship where common sense and decency still exist. But then I think of all the groups throughout our young history that fought to preserve the tenets of democracy. They didn’t give up, and neither should I.
I need to turn the grief and anger into activism. I vote for representatives who support reasonable types of gun reforms that work in other developed nations. I vote for people who believe in science over conspiracy theories. I work to elect those who respect the Constitution and rule of law. I only pray that the efforts to circumvent voting rights in America don’t succeed. It’s our most important tool to bring about positive change.
We must call out those who seek to gain power and wealth on the backs (and votes) of regular folks whom they lie to continuously while catering to the privileged few. Those who consider fellow citizens collateral damage.
I’m numb, exhausted, terrified, and heartbroken. And it hasn’t even happened to me and mine. Yet.
But I owe it to every single victim of gun violence, their families, my fellow citizens, and my loved ones to keep fighting.
So, I will.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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I am 84 years old and have seen a lot over the years. Just when I think I've seen it all, we seem to hit a new low. The United States of today is not the country I knew and loved in earlier years. My question isn't so much how did this happen as it is how can we mend it - or can we.
Every time I hear of another mass shooting in the US I thank my lucky stars that I don’t live there. It is inconceivable to me that some politicians can sit by and do nothing about the gun laws. In my opinion it is and until something concrete is done, a stain on the US. it’s shameful.