Tragedy, Blame, and changing the course of destruction

Tragedy, Blame, and changing the course of destruction

It is a sad state of affairs when we as a society debate and try to gain control by limiting freedoms and liberty. 

Time after time we have had tragic events where some one uses the ability to snuff out human lives as if to were some kind of game or way to gain notoriety. Human life has become a commodity that has little value. It is as if the perpetrator will do what they have to do to get the most points before they are eliminated, as if they expect they can re spawn  and continue to play. Great planning goes into the destruction of one of Gods greatest gift, the gift off life. There is no apparent concern for how their event will change the life and lives of all those involved, directly or indirectly. Each event ads to a hysteria and emotion as we demand that action be taken. 

We as a people come to such quick conclusions as to how to correct such behavior. Take away the weapon. Limit access. Legislate, regulate, punish. All of which will have some impact. But none of those will stop the flow of violence and hate, none will stop the individual that has it in his or her mind to do the damage. They will find a way and a weapon to accomplish their act of un humanity. Whether a gun, knife, car, plane, bomb, poison, fire, chemical, Whatever the imagination can come up with the taking of a life, either in mass or individually is a sign that that person has become lost at some point in their life. They seem to come from all walks of life too. Race does not matter. Gender does not matter. Age does not matter. The only thing that matters is that they are willing and driven to take life. 

The state we find ourselves in today didn’t happen over night. Yes there have always been those in history that had the tendencies to perpetrate evil on mankind. But it seems so much more prevalent today. Perhaps its the instant access to information  and “news”. It may be impacted by todays technology and social media. But I believe it has been more than decades in the making. We as a society have gone away from what used to be called traditional values. Values  like Work, Honesty, kindness, being willing to help each other, looking out for our neighbors, and on and on. Taking the time to talk to and with our children, letting them learn from life that some times we succeed and some times we fail. Teaching the principle to get up and dust your self off and pressing on with the knowledge that you might fail again, but you just might succeed. Learning from our trials and mistakes. Truly learning to love one another. Asking for the forgiveness of those we may have hurt in the past. 

More often than not we tend to let our cell phones and social media be the source of information and relationships. We let video games be the source of where we learn to resolve conflict, and if we fail we can always start the level over again. The coming generations values are being defined by who they interact with in a non personal way. You can be whoever you want to be on the internet. Cause they cant see you in person. 

In my opinion the answer, and it not an easy one starts with you and me. Sure legislate and regulate may have a small impact on some things. But it does not begin to address the core of the problem. We can blame mental illness, and circumstance. They are indeed culpable. But we still need to look past the exhibition of the symptoms and find out what is causing the mental illness and circumstances that cause these individuals to act. Again it comes back to you and me. 

Ask your self what can I do to change my life for better, how can I help my family and those around me to live up to their potential for good. How can I teach and help my children and grand children to know right from wrong. We need to define and identify good and bad. In times past what we call today acceptable was once considered un acceptable. Bad things are discussed as common every day occurrences. Language that once was only used in anger, hate and  in vulgar situations is now commonly used, as a verb, noun, adjective or punctuation.  

We can all see how these things collectively have changed us, our values and who we have become. May each of us look at our selves and who we are, may we look to help those around us. May we be accepting in our lives but not accept the unacceptable. Stop looking to other for the answers. The answers lay with in us.  May God Bless all those who suffer. May God give me the strength to help any I can, and may God forgive me my faults, and wrong doings.

B