Preventing The Next Tragedy

I am still trying to digest the events that occurred in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday. 

I can't even begin to comprehend what would possess someone to walk into an elementary school and open fire on innocent children. Pure evil is the only thing that comes to mind. No matter how bad of a day someone is having, what did these kids have to do with it? 

The terror that these children had to endure is unfathomable. And the torture that their parents are now going through is something no human being should ever have to experience. Even the hardened police officers, who have seen their share of bad scenes, could not possibly prepare for this kind of callous brutality.

I don't care where you stand politically, I think we should all agree that this needs to stop. It's so disheartening that, we as a country, can't even come together after a massacre of elementary school kids. What's happening to us?

Things will likely never go back to normal for the good people of Uvalde. But they will eventually get back on their feet with the help of their tight and caring community. After watching some of the interviews, I see so much compassion from the people of Uvalde. We could all take something away from that. And I hope we will....

As I move on, I will tell you straight up that I believe strongly in the Second Amendment. Along with that, I'm also a strong proponent of common sense and getting to the root of a problem.

It's easy to blame the gun in these tragedies. A gun can be a deadly instrument. But the gun does not fire without human intervention. Should stricter gun control laws be enacted in certain jurisdictions? Perhaps, but that's a discussion for another day.  Maybe we need to dig beyond the surface to examine what possesses a human to use a gun (or any other object for that mater) to commit these heinous acts of violence. 

I grew up in the 70's and 80's. And although there might have been a few, I honestly don't remember any school shootings. And back then, the gun control laws weren't as strict as they are now. So, why the dramatic increase in gun violence now?

It's quite evident that today's society has become almost numb to the random violence that's plaguing this country. On any night of the week, my local news cast usually spends the entire first segment reporting on the current episodes of mayhem in the area. What used to seem outrageous now seems routine. It's truly sad...

We can't ignore the impact that social media has had on today's youth. We all did embarrassing things as kids. Yeah, some of your friends might have witnessed it and you got ribbed for a little while. But eventually, people forgot about it. Today, everyone immediately pulls out their cell phones and records the moment. And then they upload it for an eternal life in cyberspace. You now face humiliation from people all over the globe.

This leads right into cyber-bullying. Look, we all grew up with bullies. It was never pleasant but at least you were usually only dealing with one bully. In the best cases, someone came along and chopped the bully down to size and then life was good again. But it doesn't work that way in the cyberworld. Let's say a kid comes from a really poor household and wears raggedy hand-me-down clothes because his parents can't afford new ones. Some entitled asshole can now take a photo and post it on Facebook or Snapchat which opens up the floodgates on the poor kid. 

The news media itself is huge part of the problem too. They are in business to attract viewers and boost ratings. Fanning the flames of divisiveness has proven to be a great way of achieving these goals. The media pits us against one another continuously. 

And we certainly can not overlook the abundance of bad or absent parenting. Too many kids today are either too entitled and severely neglected. How many times have you heard of a 10-year-old being shot in the street at two in the morning? The question that immediately comes to mind is, "Why is this kid out on the streets at 2 am?? Where in the hell are the parents?"

And on the flip side, you have the entitled kids who have no idea of how to cope with anything. They have never learned about responsibility or real life. When they enter their late teens and reality starts to set in, it's too much to handle. So, they often respond by having a mental break down. Sometimes, it's self-destructive. Other times, too many times, they lash out at others.

With all of this being said, there is never any excuse for opening fire on a group of innocent people. Especially a group of innocent children. If anyone feels that they're reaching that breaking point, I really hope that they would seek the support and guidance that they need. And we as a society can definitely do a better job. Maybe we can be a little nicer. Maybe can help someone up instead of kicking them when they're down.

I am not a great public speaker and I'm certainly no phycologist, but I do talk to random people everyday. And I hear all kinds of stories. I've laughed with people and I've cried with people. You never know what a person might be going through until you open up a dialogue. I truly believe that a few words of encouragement can make someone's day. And who knows? It might even save their life. Or many others...

My heart goes out to the people of Uvalde. May you find the strength to carry you on to a better day...

kw