In Florida shooting aftermath, US students say 'Never Again'
What this terrible tragedy begs are questions to be asked. Questions to be shouted: we will never go away!!!!!
Wanting to kill oneself is understandable to me. America in particular is a country that does not want to hear about the loser, the loner, the outcast or even the 'know it all'. You got through this year let's move forward. Only: for many people for whatever reasons they simply spiral downwards in ever decreasing circles. Mental illness remains a stigma in spite of all the publicity negating that. The mere mention denotes someone who is potentially dangerous to themselves and others. Well that just isn't factual true. People talk and they 'hear say' and they talk with almost no knowledge of anything about the person concerned. Let alone mental illness. And sometimes an illness is not that at all but a welcome wellness of not being brainwashed by a system of values one feels no connection with.
Why someone would want to kill innocent people, though, is a mystery to me. Did this young man convince himself that such an action would make him somehow stronger? Perhaps. America now more than ever fueled by social media promulgating the YOU. Despite the waves of genuine care and kindness in this country there is a disconnect. Unless (and even then) one has a family connection it is a world that doesn't care if you spend every holiday alone. If a one quietly sobs into their free Thanksgiving meal.
Year after year.
Gun control is the major issue of this tragedy. But there are other questions and issues that quietly always get swept under the rug. The carelessness of bullying when it is no crime to be gentle and quiet in the jungle of ME ME ME roars. The acceptable cruelty of 'hear say' that has not a grain of truth. It is no crime to be opinionated in a country that really does not worship any rocking of the boat and where the new wind is what makes the money and what people want. And no crime not to have a readymade answer. To be doubtful. To be fearful. To not know. How can you tell one person in genuine fear of his family's safety that he should not own a weapon and yet allow one to pass to another's hand?
The human race is an amazing achievement. But there are some very damaged specimens on this planet. Not all students are good people. Not all men. Not all women. Animal behavioral experiments are constantly revealing. How a sharing, caring creature can totally change under persistent coercion and adversity.
The world does not revolve around a mobile phone. And yet it now does. The world does not revolve around America, yet it does. We should learn to listen. We should learn better both to trust and doubt without fear. Ask: why do people join fundamentalist organizations that need terrorism to spread their word. And ask: why do we allow America's own fundamentalism to produce more suffering than happiness. Deafness.
Why? Why? Why? Why? The questions should never cease. And it is the children and students of this world who have the technological power in their hands to shout those questions and never be silent. Yet it is no crime to sit very quietly, significantly and pray to whosoever you choose.
Now more than ever.
