This latest act of insensical violence in Connecticut, the moment it occured (or, at the very least, noted on the internet as occuring), shook more to the point where this entire day has been a "write off". Really, I've been rearranging my apartment all day, adding to my Goodwill stack of stuff, and feverishly cleaning. I haven't eaten, only conversed with my friend Brenda over Skype for a brief while, and have been close to useless all day outside of succeeding in making my home 25 pounds lighter.
20 kids, gone! 20 children, too young to understand the term "gun control", wiped off the face of this planet in a wave of gunfire. Moreover, hundreds of individuals murdered in a different sort of way -- family, friends, and relatives of the children who will NEVER be the same again.
Interestingly, however, the moment I heard of the massacre, the very first thought that popped into my mind WASN'T gun control -- it was Christmas. The end-of-year holiday are a special time for many, full of good cheer and good times. But for more than a few, December is the most complicated, anxious, and somber month of the calendar. Inconsistent work, no money, discord with family, bad memories of a childhood gone wrong. For individuals on the brink of snapping from, and then against, society, it's a toxic brew of pain, pressure and perception. They witness their fellow man stuffing leased Mercedes, Audis, and BMWs with expensive gifts for children, wives, husbands, and family expecting wish lists to be fulfilled, all the while scrounging through what's left of their savings for the best gifts they can afford AND make rent at the end of the month. They watch as television ads for Lexus state emphatically that it's "Decenber to Rememeber" time, showing an appreciative wife accepting the keys to her Christmas gift -- a $60,000 automobile! Certainly, it would be nice to go through life gifting five digit presents to loved ones. But when X is less than Y on the balance sheet, and your debt (both monetarily and societal) is crushing you, the very LAST thing you want to see is a perfect white couple, in a perfect house, with perfect kids, giving each other perfectly and ludicrously expensive gifts.
True, this year hasn't been the best in my adult life. But it hasn't been the worst, either. I look forward to a promising 2013. Yet, there are some individuals who cannot reason in that manner. Either they are mentally incapable of understanding the ebb and flow of life, or have grown so damaged through terrible ordeals that their rational thought has been completely overridden by emotion. Some commit suicide. Some go mad. And some... kill.
Unfortunately, today, the latter came true. And I'm SHOCKED it doesn't happen more often.
December isn't about bagging your wife a shiny luxobarge. It's not about your children one-upping their neighbors with better gifts. It's not about saddling yourself with unbelievable debt, so you can give "the gift of joy". It's not ANY of that. But, it's BECOME that. The pressure is intense.... and it's a stupid, completely unnecessary pressure. I'm not 100% certain any of this contributed to the school slaying today. Yet, it's a microcosm to where this society has gone. A "show me" world of the latest gear and coolest toys and better car and brass placards on mahogany desk with a title after your name. A society where perception is more important than reality. A culture where "it's not MY problem" becomes "it's everybody's problem" at the pull of a trigger.
Gun control gun control gun control. It's all I'm hearing. For people, it's easy to scream. For politicians, it's measureable and stumpable. But what about "social control"? What about the mental state of the killer? How did he arrive to this point of fate? What the Hell happened to him to make him snap like this? Certainly, some people are predisposed to mental instability, but can society be less pressurized, slightly softer and more manageable to overcome when things don't go our way?
I always say, happiness (IMO) comes from the freedom of choice. The more options one has, the free-er they'll feel, and the happier they'll be. But do any of us have a choice NOT to bear gifts on Christmas Day? Do any of us have a choice in not caring what people think of us? Do any of us have the choice of being completely open and forthright with anybody about how they feel at any minute of the day?
The answer is ABSOLUTELY -- if you choose to be bigger than society and buck it's prerequisites. And if people cannot accept you for who you are, what you say, and how you feel, you pity them for being the mindless societal sheep that they are, incapable of understanding the difference between what they want, and what they need, and you move on. There are 311.5 million residents of the United States, which means there are 311.5 million opportunities for finding better people. You have a choice.
Unfortunately for the shooters today, for whatever reason, they felt the opposite. Tragic.
No comments:
Post a Comment