My heart is broken for the families who've suffered losses because of the recent mass shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. I cried because I imagined how I'd feel if I'd heard that one of my granddaughters had been shot and killed at school one day. A lot of people are in an enormous amount of pain right now. My heart goes out to them!
Since this has happened I've seen a lot of people politicizing it as far as for/against gun control. They want to make sure this never happens again. I have some sad news for people. It doesn't matter if you banned all guns or if you have everyone armed to the teeth. You can't stop the random mad man from doing what Adam Lanza did, or countless others have done, when they decide to spread their suffering before they kill themselves. This is the truth. Like it or not, it is the truth.
People want to believe that they can control the world. They want to make sense out of chaos and make it go away. The fact is that the world is full of chaos and no matter how many laws you enact or how many protective bubbles you try to create or how hard you pray, you won't be safe.
Safety is an illusion. The idea if you eat well and exercise you'll live to a ripe old age. Nope. No guarantee of that. If you drive safely, you won't die in a flaming car crash. Nope. No guarantee of that. That the child your bore won't someday turn on you and kill you. Nope. No guarantee of that. That the parent who bore you won't suddenly turn on you and kill you. Nope. No guarantee of that. I could go on and on.
If you somehow manage to ban guns and get all of them removed from the public sector, what's next? Can you ban someone from making bombs? (Oklahoma bomber ring any bells?) Or possibly using bows and arrows? Or a knife and slashing some throats? Or just bare hands and strangling or bludgeoning someone to death? Happens all the time folks. You can't legislate it away. I'm sorry. You can't. And if you arm everyone can you stop this? Well maybe you can stop it sooner than happened in this situation but there is no guarantee of that either.
If you call the police because someone you know is buying guns and making comments will that stop them? Hard to say. No guarantees here either. If the guns are all legal and the person isn't deemed as unfit to have them, the police can do nothing because they haven't broken any laws. Maybe that bit of attention would make a difference but maybe not.
There is evil in the world and it won't be legislated. It won't obey laws. You can try but you may not be able to protect your loved ones against it. Or even yourself. You can try to hedge your bets by doing the things I mentioned above...eating well, driving carefully, etc. It's something! But it's not a guarantee. There are none.
One thing I try to do, is remember that my loved ones could be taken from me at any time. Or that I could be taken from them at any time. I live my life accordingly. I make sure they all know how much I love them. If I was to die today I can honestly say I'd have no unfinished business except I'd wish I could have stayed longer. I'd have no regrets. I think about how people will feel if we were suddenly over and unable to resolve any issues. I live with this awareness of potential chaos every day. I understand wanting to make it go away but you can't. Just like death. There is no more chance of escape from chaos than there is from death. It will happen. Ask a cancer patient. Ask a hurricane survivor. Ask Senator Gabby. It's bigger than us. And the ones who survive? It's temporary. We're all doing to die. It's inescapable. And if he wants to, one madman can change the world. Can break your heart.
I think it's kind of dangerous to think that we can stop this kind of thing from happening. Dangerous because if we really believe we're safe, we can continue to act like idiots and not take care of our personal relationships like we should. Because we think we have time that we may not have.
The only solace I can take from what happened to those children and the adults who died in this shooting is that they were loved. And I hope that they all knew how much and that the families only regrets are that they won't get to give them more love in the coming years. In the end, I think that's the most important lesson to this. Don't leave unfinished business. If you love someone, don't play games with them. Don't withhold it from them because things aren't going your way. Grow up! Stop acting like an idiot! Deal with the issues but always make sure they know how very much they are loved!! Always.
