When Is It Enough?
According to Urie Bronfenbrenner, talking about guns would be way out of my ecological system. And he would be right. It would be on the outermost layer, the macrosystem which deals with attitudes and beliefs of my country. Nevertheless, this ridiculous macrosystem which should affect only the periphery of beliefs and sentiments has penetrated all of the other systems that ultimately affect communities and individuals when it comes to gun violence in this country.
I have no answers but I do have problems. Actually I have answers but they are unattainable: get rid of the guns. I just can't shake from my memory the day in December 2012 when I was driving down the road and got a phone call that little kids were being shot in Sandy Hook. Have you recovered from that memory? All of those precious faces killed by a maniac? I haven't forgotten. It still hurts to think of them, to think of their moms and dads and to think of the future they never reached. And since that terrible day it seems like every week there is another and another killing. Not always mass shootings but senseless killings. Why?! How come we don't protest more? How come we don't protest in a calm and long lasting way? No one I know has directly been affected by this but I know that society and our group psychology as a country has been hurt. I hate watching the news because I know that it will be the same stories with different names and cities: "Shooting in Happyville leaves dead and wounded. Religious maniac suspected. Nevermind, he was depressed, possibly sexually confused, and not religious." then followed by "Reactions by Hillary and Trump. Hillary says we need more control. Trump says something stupid. Let's talk about how stupid he is." The same headlines, the same dialogues and the same carnage happen day after day. And we have the nerve to call ourselves a leading nation and first world country.
Our country needs rehab! We need to check in our politicians and the NRA into a convent or commune where they have to care for plants and cultivate chocolate while they chant songs about loving one another. They will be fed a diet from the plants they grow and will sleep in simple rooms. They will have no access to TV or phones and will meditate how precious life is. I don't know if that is the answer. Probably not and I can see some of them escaping and twitching with the urge to use their smart phones, having withdrawal and texting in the air, but something needs to change! Yes, there are maniacs everywhere. Yes, there will always be evil. Yes, people will keep killing. But our country shouldn't enable it by allowing such stupid laws to exist. Such laws go against humanity. Allowing such violence incites hatred because people want to survive so they take sides and get angry.
I just know that this violence is affecting more than those involved. They affect every person who views the news, the violence affects the police who patrol our streets, it affects the maniacs who are already unnerved, it affects rulers viewing our country and treaties, and most importantly it affects kids. Not to sound like a broken record, but it is a shame, a crying shame that the little kids I work with are growing up in a country that has this violence. It disgusts me to think that they will be raised in a nation where this type of violence is commonplace. Do I have answers? Sort of: take away the guns. Is it possible? Not as long as the NRA and politicians don't value life.
I have no answers but I do have problems. Actually I have answers but they are unattainable: get rid of the guns. I just can't shake from my memory the day in December 2012 when I was driving down the road and got a phone call that little kids were being shot in Sandy Hook. Have you recovered from that memory? All of those precious faces killed by a maniac? I haven't forgotten. It still hurts to think of them, to think of their moms and dads and to think of the future they never reached. And since that terrible day it seems like every week there is another and another killing. Not always mass shootings but senseless killings. Why?! How come we don't protest more? How come we don't protest in a calm and long lasting way? No one I know has directly been affected by this but I know that society and our group psychology as a country has been hurt. I hate watching the news because I know that it will be the same stories with different names and cities: "Shooting in Happyville leaves dead and wounded. Religious maniac suspected. Nevermind, he was depressed, possibly sexually confused, and not religious." then followed by "Reactions by Hillary and Trump. Hillary says we need more control. Trump says something stupid. Let's talk about how stupid he is." The same headlines, the same dialogues and the same carnage happen day after day. And we have the nerve to call ourselves a leading nation and first world country.
Our country needs rehab! We need to check in our politicians and the NRA into a convent or commune where they have to care for plants and cultivate chocolate while they chant songs about loving one another. They will be fed a diet from the plants they grow and will sleep in simple rooms. They will have no access to TV or phones and will meditate how precious life is. I don't know if that is the answer. Probably not and I can see some of them escaping and twitching with the urge to use their smart phones, having withdrawal and texting in the air, but something needs to change! Yes, there are maniacs everywhere. Yes, there will always be evil. Yes, people will keep killing. But our country shouldn't enable it by allowing such stupid laws to exist. Such laws go against humanity. Allowing such violence incites hatred because people want to survive so they take sides and get angry.
I just know that this violence is affecting more than those involved. They affect every person who views the news, the violence affects the police who patrol our streets, it affects the maniacs who are already unnerved, it affects rulers viewing our country and treaties, and most importantly it affects kids. Not to sound like a broken record, but it is a shame, a crying shame that the little kids I work with are growing up in a country that has this violence. It disgusts me to think that they will be raised in a nation where this type of violence is commonplace. Do I have answers? Sort of: take away the guns. Is it possible? Not as long as the NRA and politicians don't value life.
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