Surprise! Another Shooting.
I will be honest, I was not shocked when I heard there was another shooting. There was a shooting in New Zealand. I was a little shocked when I heard that 49 people died and more were injured. I was very upset when I heard it was in a Mosque.
Those were my reactions. It is frightening that I didn’t even flinch when I heard that there was another shooting. It is horrific that this had such a huge death toll. It is unacceptable that this was a hate crime.
My question to you is, am I safe? Are you safe? Are we safe?
What’s really interesting to me is that I work in a center for Juvenile Delinquents, or kids who have been in jail, and some of them have even brought guns to school. What’s funny is that I’m not afraid of these kids, these are just troubled children who need help.
I am afraid of the deranged psychopath who just roams the streets and has a gun. I go to the drugstore, a couple of times a week. Could it happen there? I go to the gym regularly, what about there? And then I go to work every day, what if it happens to me?
There is this higher and higher possibility that I could be shot at a public place. The chances are rising every day. I never worried about my school being shot up when I was a kid, kids today worry about that on a constant basis.
Usually, I work at colleges. There is a chance my college could get shot up. Someone I know could die, I could die. I don’t think about this on a daily basis, because that would make my life a living hell. But s
That’s a really screwed up thing to have to consider while trying to enjoy a meal, a movie or a life. I am aware that there is more of a chance of me dying in a car accident or of heart disease or cancer, but still. A car accident is usually not really anyone’s fault, heart disease can be prevented with good health, cancer is god’s fault. A shooter is our fault. A shooter is my fault. I’m at fault for not doing anything to try to pass laws to get guns out of the hands of maniacs.
This is my way of doing something, writing about it in a public forum. I don’t know what else to do. I want you to think long and hard about the fact that it could be you, your child or your significant other in a shooting. Your mother, your brother. This matters.
What are we going to do?
Well, there is a presidential election coming up. Guns should be an issue and something that is important to the candidate that we choose. We need to force lawmakers to listen to citizens on this issue. They work for us.
No one wants to make guns illegal, but everyone wants to make this stop. These crazy shootings are making this world a hellish place to live. I know this didn’t happen in America, and that is the single most surprising fact about this shooting to me. It didn’t happen here, this time.
We are the country who is leading in gun deaths by an enourmously embarrassing number. We have the biggest problem. We need to wake up. This is part of being woke, realizing that we have a problem. A real problem.
And also realizing there are solutions to this problem, and we can come up with them. And we must. Do it for yourself, do it for your kid, your husband. Whoever.
This is just one of those things we gotta do.
Let’s just do it.
nina