I originally wrote this after the Virginia Tech shootings and adapted it to current events. In light of the frenzy going on only hours after the shootings in Arizona, I feel it is no less relevant now.
What can we do?
…regarding the shootings yesterday in Arizona?…nothing.
You can’t make sense of something like this. You can’t ban guns. You can’t promote guns. Not today. Not ever.
You can’t make this about policy, religion or politics. Not today. Not ever.
We’ll hear all the angles, all the speculation, the second it’s politically acceptable – probably sooner. In the context of an isolated tragedy like this no one will be right.
You can’t lock down public places. You can’t arm everyone everywhere, even if they wanted to be, and a gun law won’t stop a person intent on harming another person.
You can’t prevent everything.
We want to try to make sense of it. We want to try to mitigate the pain by somehow surmising that there is an upside. Something to be learned. An opportunity to capitalize. A way to prevent someone intent on harming others. But there won’t be.
All we can do is support and pray for the families…and for the shooter’s family…and for the victims of similar past tragedies for whom this will be an excruciating reminder.
Hug your loved ones, your husbands, wives and kids.
That’s what we can do.
When I heard about his shooting I thought about the congresswoman’s husband and what he must be going through. I thought about what it would be like to lose a nine-year-old daughter in such a horrible way. I thought about how I would feed if the shooter were my son.
It didn’t occur to me to think about the political motivations of the killer or the culpability vis a vis a policy stance or voting record on the part of the congresswoman or her staff, let alone the bystanders who are no less or no more innocent in this context.
I think it’s sad that there are those that have already done that, even before all the facts are in; as if it would be appropriate even if they were.
There is only one person to blame. Whether he used a gun, a knife, a car or a baseball bat, it is of no import. Whether he was a Republican or a Democrat or of the Tea Party, it is of no import. Whether he was sane or not, it is of no import.
Senseless acts of violence can not be explained or rationalized.
No one in the interest of any affiliation should condone or attribute a senseless act of cruelty.
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