Yesterday an entire community woke up feeling safe and went to bed knowing the truth–no one is safe.
When we examine mass killings in America the list is chilling without the quotidian descriptions of domestic murders. When I read these articles on our history of violence what struck me was how incomplete the lists were.
I found several articles but none mentioned the tragedy at the Amish schoolhouse several years ago. The story of a methodical murder of children at school? Worth remembering.
And now we have Sandy Hook. I hate these stories. Most of us do. But what I find almost as disturbing is how quickly we go back to our Christmas parties and meme gathering.
Sometimes it does seem as though we are more pro-active about spreading urban legends than the truth.
I understand our desire to play the numbers–immediately after the tragedy I heard and read several reporters say–these events are rare.
I seem to have missed the bend in history when the NRA needed more public advocacy than school children.
We have a big problem. A deadly,escalating association between power and slaughter, the desire to exact a terrible revenge on children and the need for fame?
Can it be that our culture of entertainment violence has collided with real violence and a quest for celebrity? Do any of us dare face the possibility that this is the monster we have created? Nurtured? Then allowed to roam our schools, malls, concerts and cinemas while we idly click our remotes looking for something to distract us from a gathering darkness?
Carrying Light 
I truly hope that we are moving more and more toward light with every passing decade. But we don’t move in that direction fast enough, and at every turn there are challenges to progress. I think as a society we are free-er, more open, more forgiving, and more informed. Taboos that kept victims silent (and kept those who needed help from seeking it) are falling away, again slowly, and unevenly, but in the general direction of goodness. I think that maybe (and you will know about this MUCH better than I do–I’m merely hypothesizing) these days when we seek justice, fairness, safety, love and reason and don’t get it, we are shocked and dismayed and perhaps even crushed, because–and this is a good thing–we expect it. We expect it of everyone. Expectations drive progress.
And daylight is the ultimate purifier. Thank goodness for the sun.
What I am maybe most ashamed of in myself is my cowardice. I have a very hard time looking evil and tragedy in the face. For this reason, unlike you, I am not a brave leader, but I’m a pretty good follower. I hope. 🙂
I agree about the general tolerance.
I am a pessimist about our safety nets. They are worn and tattered and brave men are a dying breed.
It is our–mine included–cowardice that most concerns me.