Nancy and I went out to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Following the dinner, we opened our fortune cookies and I wanted to share what they had to say. My fortune stated, "Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation." I began to think about what was stated and indeed that seems to be true. When we are so content, our desire is to keep things the same and not make any changes. Sometimes that leads to what I often call the inertia of sameness. We don't want to change and actually resist change especially if it seems to create difficulties for ourselves. I often read about people criticizing others because they seem to speak of their discontent as if this was a major problem. Sometimes we need to reflect on what is progress which is not the status quo.
The other saying that Nancy got stated, "Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it." Following the tragedy of this week that is a difficult thought. Yet, one wonders. Here a deeply disturbed young man is able to get ahold of an assault AK 47 to use. At one time owning one of these assault weapons was illegal though many organizations such as NRA wanted to lift the ban. Despite law enforcement, FBI, ATF and others, the ban was lifted in 2004 by the congress and the executive branch. The concern by law enforcement was exactly what happened in this incident that someone could shoot 30+ rounds within a short period of time. Supposedly the argument was to allow either gun collectors have these weapons or for hunters. Most hunters I know would never use a semi-automatic or automatic assault rifle to go hunting. This does not excuse what the young man did which was horrific. But as we are learning, this young man had an extensive psychiatric problem and when he became an adult there was no one there to help treat the problem. I know from my experience as a mental health worker how much treatment costs and also how much medications cost. I am sure that his job at McDonalds would not even pay for his medications or for sessions to deal with his unspecified mental condition.
I continue to be in shock about the tragedy and continue to keep the families of the victims in my prayers. I would hope that we can move forward in this time of horrific violence to try to find ways that we can proactively do something that would prevent this from occurring. I hope that your prayers are also for those families and for our city and nation.
1 comment:
The inertia of sameness is a killer for me. It you want to bore me to death and drive me away, just keep everything the same. On the other hand change just for the sake of change is not good either. There has to be a balance, you need a pathway set out in front of your change. This way people can understand the need for it and get behind it. Without that vision you are just tying your own noose.
I disagree with your assesment of the gun law. I own a weapon similar to this and while I do not hunt, I do enjoy target practice. Most deer hunters today do use a semi-automatic rifle however they are usually limited to a 5 round magazine. Fully automatic weapons are still illeagal to be own by the general public and most collectors.
However, you did hit issue on the head. In my opinion, the irresponsible gun owner is the real problem in this situation, he did not lock it up and keep the ammunition locked up seperate. As you well know there are a lot of really screwed up people out there. That kid should never had access to that rifle to begin with.
I too am sad for the folks that this has and will effect in the future. I wish this had never happened. I hope gun owners learn a lesson from this tragedy.
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