Do you have empathy?
Or, do tragedies provide a forum to spew political rhetoric?
posted almost 12 years ago
I am a parent. I can't begin to imagine what I would feel if I lost my children in that horrible incident in Connecticut. I couldn't imagine how I would feel if my son or daughter were the shooters in this tragedy.
However, what makes me sick to my stomach is the media's constant milking of this situation. What also is sickening is the Internet following suit.
Conservatives and liberals going back and forth over gun control.
Religious and non-religious blaming each other for belief (or lack of belief) as a cause.
It wasn't video games, or TV, or Jesus, or no Jesus. Not movies. Not music.
Crazy People do crazy things.
I think the problem is with us. All of us. We cannot handle random occurrences. We cannot handle that life is dangerous and shit just happens for no apparent reason. Now, I am not saying that we stop looking for answers. What I am saying is that all this debate about what caused this is a coping mechanism; escapism. A way to hide yourself from the reality that no matter what you do, no matter how many guns you have (or don't), or whether you have Jesus or Allah in your life, people will kill and people will die.
Even little children.
I think the way to really learn from this tragedy is that all life is precious. Christian life. Muslim life. Black life. White life. Rich and Poor. Whether children in Connecticut are gunned down or Afghani children in an air strike.
If you are feeling pain, like I am, in hearing this tragedy...
Don't forget it. Keep it in your mind. Do not forget. Because when this mourning period passes, and it will pass, we need to be careful about how we talk about using violence. Let's not be so quick to use violence to solve our domestic and foreign problems. Let's remember that in any discussion we have in the future, whether it be the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, Poverty, Israel/Palestine, China, or whatever problems we face, we are talking about human lives, just as precious as those little children in Newtown, Conn.
If we can do that, if you can learn to do that, maybe we can limit these tragedies.
