Inbox: Email from my sorority sister, discussing our mutual concern regarding the climate of hatred and intolerance in our country. After all, I write about peace….who better to discuss it with, right? Quickly….email shifts from a shared concern of negative/hate-filled political ideology that appears to be emerging/growing in our culture to an “OMG- did you hear what happened in Orlando?”
Silence. Disbelief.
Nearly a year ago, I wrote about my family’s trip to Key West. Traveling with my family & my parents for our annual summer trip, we were there when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality. I took photos of the city as the ruling emerged, a peaceful “hooray” could be heard throughout the city. While I was so happy for my friends and family members who are gay or lesbian, I am keenly aware the struggle for acceptance goes beyond what the Supreme Court ruled. People are still idiots. People are still intolerant. And people are still judgmental and unnecessarily obsessed with what people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms. I don’t get it. Love is love. It is that simple to me.
But what happened in Orlando is bigger than this issue. While I mourn collectively with our county, most of whom I believe to be largely rational people, attempting to understand how something like this could happen….I sorta scratch my head thinking “how could it not?”
We have a mental health system that is broken at best. Our judicial system does very little to dissuade convicted criminals from re-offending. We have easy access to guns, including but not limited to assault rifles, in our country. We have a growing trend of radicalized religious practices (not just Muslim, less someone thinks that is where I am going with this. Radical religion, all of sorts, is dangerous in nature.) We have a growing intolerance of others in our country…..we even have political candidates, running for president, inciting audiences towards an increased intolerance of people based on religion or ethnicity….it’s like a perfect storm.
Don’t believe me? Have you checked the statistics for mass shootings in 2016? To date, there have been 178 in the US already this year, and it’s June 13! That may have changed by the time I post this. It’s staggering.
I worry about our country. We can pray. We can hope. We can gather together in candle light services, but until we do something to radically assess gun laws in our country, all our “community bonding efforts” appear to be in vain.
Really, if children in an elementary school, or people going to the movie theater, or college kids studying in a classroom, or some gay latino men gathering at a dance club aren’t safe….all seemingly harmless activities, then how can any of us sit and be silent thinking we are safe? And why are we not in an uproar for all of these people who are no longer here to do so?
How does Australia survive without guns?
I have been writing on the subject of peace, both on my personal journey and those around me, for several years. I have this small audience I can attempt to plant seeds in an effort to spread peace around the world. It’s my vision….truly. Grandiose? Yes…but it’s my vision. However, I am cognizant that it is so limited and until we create a world that makes it really very hard for some person who is having some sort of mental break, or some sort of delusional episode, or some sort of rage-filled fantasy gone horribly tragic…..if history tells us anything, these episodes are going to do nothing but increase.
I am sending my oldest son to college in the fall. I wish my greatest concern for him, like it probably was for my parents, was whether or not he’d study for his exams or whether or not he’d call me while he was away or whether or not he’d ever eat a vegetable during the week or whether or not he’d drink to much at a party…..those should be my biggest worries.
Anyone have ideas? Let’s ban together…..with a plan.…..send me your thoughts for how to make this world truly a more peaceful place. Or may be Australia wants a few million new residents?
Peace…….
peaceinthejourney 