Archive: Opinions

My partner of sixteen years has always been slow to anger and quick to forgive. She has had plenty of opportunity to prove these admirable traits, putting up with me and my own less than admirable traits over the years. So, last Sunday evening I was quite taken aback when, inquiring if she had heard more news of yet another massacre (how else could I describe it?) by gunfire, this time in a church in Texas, the words that cascaded from her mouth were laced, peppered, with some words which were rare, and quite explicitly anger-driven and not, shall we say, expressible in polite company that she and I usually keep.

Her pain, anger and frustration came out in a torrent, accompanied by tears and a shaking of her fist. Twenty-six dead, including many children, in a church. Ten percent of that town's population now dead and wounded by a man wielding at least one gun and hundreds of rounds. The fact that it was a church, again, was a righteous part of her anger, and fear, for she is the pastor of a small local church, and the vulnerability she felt, as well as the contradiction of the Christian message in a place of worship added incredibly to the sadness and a sense of loss adding to her stream of tearful invective.

As the headlines about this massacre begin to diminish (now, the headlines are that the FBI is trying to 'get into' the shooter's phone, and domestic violence was an unreported issue in this man's past) I am left to contemplate the same well worn cliches, the same bromides, the same so-called solutions, as well as the pronouncements from those who feel they have an 'answer', but in reality their answers also indicate the real frustration Americans feel; the answers these people advance really only raise more questions, and reveal the lack of resolution of what I am going to call a civil war in our country, complete with all the anger and bloodshed that a civil war image connotes... for, what we are experiencing is civil war, and political answers are no answers at all.

I have read now that America now has more than three hundred million guns, and that may very well be an underestimate.Now that I Googled this question, I may as well as give you another couple of numbers: as of November 8th, 13,251 people have died by gunshot in the U.S., and breaking that down to 622 kids under 12; 27,124 teenagers have been killed by gunfire this year, and the number of "mass killings" (killings of four or more by one shooter) now number 308 in 2017... 308 mass shootings this year.

These numbers don't take into account more than 22,000 who have committed suicide by gun this year. We agonize over opioid deaths, automobile deaths, and so many other numbers that we have become numbed by the sheer overwhelming numbers. More than enough to make a grown man cry, yet we continue to hear only political 'answers', which are no answer at all. The answers may lie beyond our politics. They may lie inside. Inside you and me.

Let's look at those political answers for a second: first, the words 'control' and 'argument' may need to be jettisoned. Both of the 'sides' would love to put the genie back in the bottle, but no one is quite ready to agree on what the 'genie' is, or what the 'bottle' may be. Is it a 2nd amendment issue? Is it the NRA?? Is it mental health spending?? Is it reporting on a national scale and better background checks? These are political arguments, and each "solution" has failed to stop the carnage, I think due to the problem of letting our politicians try to solve the problem, instead of looking to ourselves, our neighborhood and neighbors.

The late Molly Ivans, commenting on a law being debated years ago in Texas concerning concealed carry, facetiously said it was a good law, only lacking a requirement for anyone carrying a concealed weapon should also be made to wear a beanie cap with a propeller on it to warn others of his presence. Humorous image, but just as useless as those who propose that the more weapons carried by law-abiding citizens in public would discourage would-be shooters considering the possibility that they would be shot as well. Seems like more mayhem as a so-called 'answer'.

Don't get me wrong -- I am a firm believer in a rational, law abiding person's right to own a firearm. I toted an M-16 for a year in VietNam and can attest to what my weapon could and did to to anyone and anything that I chose to aim at. My difficulty is that millions of people see this as a political right, regardless of the consequences, and seems to be defined by lobbyists making us believe that their arguments are better than the other side's. While the nation bleeds, and so many of us continue to believe that a political resolution to this conundrum is possible.

As in so many contentious and seemingly unresolvable issues, those which affect us personally and which persist on a national level for years and years (think women's right to choose, opioid addiction, think guns), I believe thinking politically only limits us. This includes deciding which party has our own interests in mind with their 'position' on the above unresolved decades old issues. I repeat, I think making an issue of this magnitude a political issue limits us. It gives political operatives, lobbyists, talk show denizens, advertising agencies and so many others another opportunity to make, solicit and spend money, proposing solutions that only prove that the problem becomes even more intractable, and almost appears that the above named people/groups almost seem to thrive on blood, anger, pain and disaster. The only answer they have is to continue an unwinnable argument: Another law, another election on the same issue. They seem to live on our frustration and helplessness, because we continue to look to them to come up with miraculous answers, instead of looking to ourselves.The war is coming home, to our neighborhoods, our churches, our schools, our homes, not just on TV, but in living, dying color.

Wayne Dyer (bless his soul) had a best seller, still available, entitled "A Spiritual Solution To Every Problem". Now, this may provoke a response that is not exactly positive on the part of some readers, but, if you will, hear me out. Since what I continue to hear from so many about the violent, gun-ridden society we live in seems so politically oriented, as opposed to something deeper, maybe we need to put the political aside and get deep within ourselves (yes, all of us). After all, when politicos take over the issues of addiction, women's right to choose, and other 'so big' questions which we can't seem to resolve to a reasonable conclusion, I think it's the politics which keep us from looking at different and new methods. Ditch the politics and look at new ( and maybe ancient) ways.

For instance, the women's rally in D.C. after last year's inauguration. Yes, call it political, but it had the force of thousands who didn't agree on a lot of things, but had the force of tens of thousands, protesting. The Million Man March comes to mind. The Freedom March on D.C. in 1963, and the Moratorium on the Mall in 1969: Yes, politics was there, but the gatherings had a spiritual base, the spiritual and moral force of demonstrating for a deep, even spiritual cause. It was spiritual because the motive came from the heart, the spirit, permit me to say it, the souls of thousands, both living and dead.

Where is America's moral force when it comes to the national angst over violence and anger?? The anger of the victims, the witnesses, even the anger of those who perpetrate that violence?

Let's get basic: This level of violence is a national, debilitating, deadly sense, and case, of anger. "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" has now devolved into almost daily incidents of shootings, so much so that if the violence doesn't take the lives of four or more people, it doesn't even rate a 'blip' on the nation's social media or network radar. Why aren't we angry enough about this to, essentially, flip the anger on its head? Why not go to the streets, our churches, our community gathering places, to quietly and peacefully contemplate, demonstrate our American request for a day of reconciliation, to collectively say "No more", and by the force of tens of thousands quietly protesting and remembering its victims, tell our officials that we are going to find common cause in community action. This means, simply and profoundly, we are going to address the issue of anger, and rage, with or without guns, which seems to have become an epidemic in our country, and recognize it as the root cause of so many of our intractable problems. Anger. Seething, inexplicable anger at so many things over which we (and the perpetrators of violence) seem helpless in the face of.

Imagine, say, on December 31st of this year (a Sunday, the last day of this bloody year) millions of Americans go to their churches, community halls, auditoriums, community squares, etc, to sing, contemplate, meditate on this issue of America at war with itself. No speeches. Remember at the anti-war demonstrations when the names of the fallen were read out loud and how those names rang out, like single bell peals? How the names of the dead rang across college campuses, church yards and city squares? How sobering would it be to have those thirteen thousand (and counting) names spoken out to the thousands of peaceful and mournfully quiet demonstrators across this country on the last day of the year.

Imagine singing songs and hymns to the deceased innocents. Churches and communities all across this ravaged nation at war with itself declaring a national day of reconciliation, of mourning, of remembrance. A day of prayer, of sacrifice, of determination to look within ourselves for the anger which resides in all of us, and which contributes to so much of our unsolved problems. A question of morality, individual, with the country looking into its own individual souls for answers, no longer asking or receiving solutions that only exacerbate our political divide and further contribute to frustration and fear. Anger and fear are flip sides of the same coin: A national loss of purpose and spirit. Call it spirituality, as long as you keep the door open to any interpretation of spirituality so we can invite everyone into the tent...for we all grieve, and we need to grieve as a nation, as a community of people seeking a spiritual solution, if we can open our minds and hearts to it.

Perhaps, in this national day of mourning and contemplation, new answers might emerge from our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, quietly contemplating truths as old as the universe, as long as the human race has struggled: Anger, violence, and fear cannot conquer this resolve.

Evoke the thought of peace on the last day of this bloody year, this most violent of years in memory, and collectively sing of the hopes of humans: a world that finally faced up to the real problem, and perhaps the real solution....peace as a hope, fear and anger as the real problems to be vanquished. Hopelessness and despair have many causes, but far fewer resolutions. Shall it be declared a National Day of Prayer??

Call it what you wish, and I don't expect this White House to proclaim it. This movement is up to each one of us, saying: "We can do this. Let's organize it with no expectations but communal hope; Let's make it happen in our community, our church." One person, one group, one demonstration, one united nation of quiet hope. Let's address the anger and fear within ALL of us, and honor the dead, the victims, the witnesses. We shan't be victims anymore of our own fears. We can find the answer in ourselves, and as a community with one purpose. A moment, an hour, of contemplation of our place in the community of hope. A spiritual answer, as old as humanity, if we will open our hearts. The only answer which ever vanquished fear: Love.

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