I am sure by now all of you guys are aware of what took place out in Tucson on Saturday. I am also sure you have seen all the news programming, no matter which station you watch, full of people giving their opinions on why it happened and who is to blame for it (other than the alledged gunman himself). There is a new debate going on about gun control, hate speech masked as political campaigning, and whether the gunman was a liberal or conservative (as if that really matters). And I have watched all of this and read the online stories and have come to this conclusion. This world is filled with hate. It is filled with anger. And it is filled with rage. And it is what breeds all this violence. I used to ask myself where does all the evil come from and I would have people tell me that some people are just born bad. But I don't believe that people are by nature good or evil. I don't think any of us are born to be one or the other. I think we all possess the ability to do wonderful and amazingly good things and we also possess the ability to do horrible, destructive and violent things. I know we have all felt anger and rage and even hate at times and yet some of us, or to be correct, most of us never actually carry out violent acts of aggression and unspeakable evil on others. Why is that? I don't understand why we don't all react to the same rhetoric of the politicians the same. We all hear it and we all see it but not all of us go out and do what this gunman did. And the fact of the matter is, what happened in Arizona on Saturday is just one of many far too often occurrences of gun violence in this country. And that brings up this point. Why does America seem to be the only country in the world where so many gun related crimes occur? Why does it seem that we have so much more shootings and so much more violence that involves guns? Is it because we have more hatred and rage inside of us than other nations? Is it because we don't have strict enough gun laws to keep this from happening? Is it because our political system is becoming about hating anyone who happens to have the opposite point of view? Where did all this hatred come from and how can we get it to end? I really don't know for sure. Yes, I have my suspicions and my theories but I don't know for sure. All any of us can really do is speculate. I am not sure we can label this alledged killer as either a fundamental right wing nut or a fundamentalist left wing nut as he was a registered independent who didn't even vote in the latest election. I think he was just a delusional and mentally unbalanced kid who slipped through the cracks of society like so many do. I believe many can take some blame in this tragedy indirectly. The politicians for their incitement and their rhetoric in their ads that they mask as campaign strategy. The talk show hosts, both on radio and television who spew hate speech and violent rhetoric to anybody who dares to disagree with their opinions and therefore, they are wrong and evil or Nazis or anti-American. They don't have any sense of compromise at all. They are right and you either agree or get labeled all these nasty things. The thing these guys and gals have to understand is they are in the public eye and everything they say can create motivation for people. And as I pointed out above, many of us simply agree or disagree with what they say and it may make us angry but not to the point of going to get a gun and loading it up and then shooting a place up to make a point or some sort of bizarre statement. But there are some that will do that. And it is imperative that the people in these positions, such as politicians and tv and radio hosts and even news commentators, understand that words do matter and that they can be the most dangerous weapon a person possesses. To some people, they will take every word they say as true and literal and will go out and feel as if they were told to do it. I am not sure that that theory applies in this situation as I think this shooter just wanted to do something that got him recognized because he has been invisible his whole life and he wanted to be seen and heard. He was not a liberal or conservative. He was just an unstable person who needed help and never got that help. And there is where more blame lies. The education system let this kid down. They realized he had some mental issues and they realized he needed some help but they only suggested it to the parents if he wanted to return to school. They didn't say your son needs some help and we fear that he is a danger to himself and others. They simply suggested it and not very emphatically. They let him fall through the cracks as a student as well. I have read that he seemed to believe he was very intelligent and was above others in his literacy but after seeing some of his supposed videos on Youtube, I believe he was actually on the lower side of literacy and was not very educated at all. It is my personal opinion that he has some type of learning disorder as well. To watch his videos on Youtube, they seem to be nonsensical ramblings but they do have a message in them. It is just not a very complex one. He needed help and I feel sad that he never got the help but at the end of the day, he has to be willing to accept the help. But the fact that no one offered him any is the part that bothers me. I truly wish when people say after the fact that he was acting strange or he seemed a little off that they would step up and say that at the time. It always seem to be brought up after the disturbing act of violence how unstable the assailant seemed. So there is a lesson to be learned as well. I just feel that we as a country have to choose right now at this moment to stand up together and forget all the labels of democrat, republican, liberal, conservative, and not worry about who is right or wrong and just be united in this cause to stop all this senseless and disgusting violence that citizens carry out against their own. We can do it but we have to stop all the rhetoric and the rest of the bullshit to do it. Let us all do it for those victims lost, not just in Arizona on Saturday, but for all victims of these types of brutal and unnecessary crimes throughout history. And if we can do that, then we can stop all the madness once and for all. That is my American dream that I hope everyone shares (and at least respects)
Keeping all the victims and the shooter himself in my thoughts and prayers
Until next time
Let's spread love, not hate
Mel
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