a new level of terrorism......
There really used to be a time when we could rely on living in a Pollyanna existence.....the world was relatively safe in our part of the playground. Parents could let their children roam the neighborhood.... in fact, it was encouraged. Since Mom was home all day with you, it wasn't below her to use any ploy to get you out of the house, and out of her hair. We still had strict instructions to stay within earshot, lest we be late for dinner, but the freedom of being outside meant playing baseball games till dusk, long games of hide and seek, or fort building. Well..... at least that's the way I remember my childhood. I don't see any of that anymore.
When I was a young mother, I feared for the safety of my child, just as any parent does. The only time I felt really safe with him being out of my sight was when he attended school. It was a safe-zone..... completely off limits to drugs, knives, guns, and any other perverted means to harm innocent people. Just as my son was springboarding into High School from 8th grade, Columbine happened. I sat watching TV and cried. It seemed so senseless..... so wrong, and I couldn't understand how the people who branished guns and randomly shot scared fleeing victims could feel any sense of good out of this. What did it actually accomplish? We may never really know, as the profiles for these deranged people change daily, and the statistics for this type of violence rises.
There was a time when school shootings were as unlikely as lightening strikes..... the statistics were millions/ billions to one that anything like this was ever going to happen in your neighborhood. I can bet the gentle Amish folk had better odds than that. Sadly, we have entered a new level of terrorism by our own people. In the past week alone, three more senseless school shootings have been added to the list, and our collective hearts have been saddened further. We mourn for the families, and pray they find some semblance of normalcy to carry on with; and we hope that the people who carry out these hideous tasks find the proper help they need before they barricade themselves in with weapons to take out innocent lives with.
For all the families who have been effected by this mindless carnage, you have my deepest sympathies. May your God find a way to console you through one of the darkest moments of your life.
posted by Ellen at 5:50 PM
12 Comments:
Beautifully written Ellen.
I havent been able to bring myself to read much of the ongoing news about this psycho evil person who targetted little amish girls. How much sicker can you get?
However, this senseless carnage will continue unabated until a leader of the United States steps forward and decides to make drastic changes to the gun laws. Given that a senseless school shooting just occured in Montreal recently, we need to tighten up our belts too.
It sounds like this guy didn't reveal many signs of serious psychosis.......so one can't really predict who will be the next person to lose their mind and kill innocents......but for God's sake can we not make it impossible to get our hands on guns??? It can't help but help!
awareness~
I agree completely. We make it far too easy for people to get their hands on guns, and we have far too many people who say that people kill people, not guns. What the heck kind of reasoning is that? If they didn't have a gun, would they be so bold in their attempts to hurt others?
Then we have the hard driven NRA-types who say we have the right to bear arms according to our Constitution. I hardly think our forefathers saw this one coming. Bearing arms was for protection against enemies, and hunting. We've bastardized this one right by allowing guns with no other means for use than killing people, to be allowed on the market. And then we do little to no background checks. In the state of Alabama, you can go to Trade Day (much like a flea market center) and buy a gun right off the table.... no background check whatsoever.
I wish people who have no zest for life, and want to end it all, would just go to the nearest woodshed and get it over with.... not take innocent children with them, as this man did. He was a very sick individual to the core.
Yeah, maybe if he were on meds, that could have taken away some of the repressed feelings of guilt, etc from his life, but people in that state rarely stay on meds.
Funny observation by the comic Chris Rock.... he said that bullets should cost $1,000.00 apiece. Then maybe it would be a little more difficult for people to use them willy-nilly.
School shootings really bother me, for many reasons. The shooting in Montreal really bothered me, and this new one does as well.
I just wish we could find a way to prevent them. These kinds of things shouldn't be happening. Especially to our children.
My heart goes out for the Amish people and those children. I too can't seem to read or even bear to watch it on tv. Someone with some backbone needs to take charge and not be afraid of stepping on someone's rights enough is enough, like I said before, When the power of love overcomes the love of power then peace will reign.
My heart goes out to the families that experienced a tragedy that no one should ever have to go through.
Very well said. Thanks. I have nothing to add except that the world is not the same place where I grew up and I am sad for today's children.
I was out on the loose all day as a child, too. These days there is just no safe! This decade it pays to be paraniod- very sad state of society.
School departments are going to have to budget more for the security- no question. I bet even the Amish will feel a need to be guardng those kids from now on.
God Bless all those affected families, the injured, n the 5 expired girls. I hope those folks can feel the prayer support put forth their direction.
I wish they had computers (electricity) to read your post...
wes~
With the rising stats over gun deaths, I find myself getting sicker by the moment. Prevention is a hard quest, as you never know when a person is going to snap, and weild a gun. According to the wife and friends of the latest shooter in the Amish community, this man was supposed to be a good father and husband... not a likely candidate to do something of this nature at all. How does one smoke these people out? I wish we knew the answer.
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skye~
Your quote was powerful... ala John Lennon for sure.
As long as the 2nd ammendment stands and is not re-ammended to include background checks, and more thorough scrutiny of persons purchasing guns, these problems will persist. How sad is that? Personally I think that owning a gun for protection against other humans is sick all by itself anyway.
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myutopia~
The empathy you show in your comment makes you a real human... the personality quality lacking in the people who carry out this carnage. Thank you for your thoughtful words.
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barbara~
You've added plenty, and I couldn't agree with you more. Our country and the world gets more violent everyday.... how do we explain this one to our kids?
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snaggle~
We weren't even allowed to play in the house unless it was raining or snowing.... and even then, we were banned to the basement that had a big play area for us. Staying in all day was not heard of unless you were sick... and then, you were banned to bed. (No TV's in the room either, only books.) Today, I'm only too glad my son wasn't too much of a wanderer.. but then he was spooked by the newscasts of drive-by shootings.
We don't live in a neighborhood that suffers that kind of act, but that it was happening somewhere was enough to frighten him. I didn't mind him being home, and actually preferred it, as I often wondered if the houses he was playing at had guns around. You hear of too many of those kinds of accidents too.
I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they start arming schools... it looks like the next step sadly.
It will be interesting to see how the Amish community will go forward in this area as well.
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Thank you all for your kind words, and for stopping by. I'm glad to see I wasn't alone in my thoughts over this.
Ellen - It's a way different world now. The hate and rage, seems to have no end in sight. They had funerals up in PA today for 4 of the girls. A 5th is play for Friday.
People that aren't insane can't possibly explain the motives of those sick people that live in our midst.
Peace & Hugs,
- Neo
neo~
Good point. I did catch a psychologist on TV who said that we live amongst people who are good at coming across as "normal" folks, but underneath they are entirely a different person... completely lacking in empathy for others. They allow the demons to take over their soul, always blaming it on something that happened in their childhood. To which my reply was: Yeah, well get over it, and grow up. Life's a bitch sometimes... doesn't mean you have to take innocent people out with you.
Like you and I discussed, take it to the woodshed, and leave the innocents alone.
As you know, I wrote something similar here. I don't even wish to think too much about it, for fear that I will have nightmares. I am so very, very thankful that my son is homeschooled. I never trusted the schools to ensure the quality of his learning, and they certainly can't ensure the quality of life, either.
Let's not fool ourselves: this could happen in any school, at any time.
My ex-boyfriend's daughter attended an elementary school in the heart of a crime-ridden area. Because they were anxious to funnel in funds to the area, they made that school a "magnet" school with excellent gifted programs, thus attracting "better" and more well-behaved kids to balance out the monsters that were (or weren't!) being raised in the nearby 'hood.
Surprisingly, the crime rate was low. As one educator drily told me, "you don't sh*t where you live".
However, it only takes one.
The school was pretty well locked down, but when my boyfriend and I walked the perimeter, we found a couple obvious places where someone could simply walk through a gap in the fence and walk onto the campus, between classes, armed with a gun. He could also stand outside of the fence and aim, too. It would be a piece of cake.
Due to our alerting them,the school closed the gaps. But the fence is easily scaled (no barbed wire) and there's no alarm system.
IMHO, it's only a matter of time.
saur~
I agree, it's only a matter of time before any school is a target. And why? Because schools are easy targets to begin with. Since it is a no gun zone, deranged folks already know they have no problem walking in with a gun and doing damage.
What terrible cowards to do this sort of carnage.
How smart of you to talk a walk around the school where ex-boyfriends daughter attended. I'm almost amazed the janitors of the school didn't think of that one themselves. But you are right... no matter if you secure the school, all it takes is one person to find the loopholes.
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