“There’s a hole in the world tonight
There’s a cloud of fear and sorrow
There’s a hole in the world tonight
Don’t let there be a hole in the world tomorrow”
The Eagles
There’s only one appropriate topic this week for a site that focuses on healing Trauma. Yet, as I say that I know that for the families and communities victimized by the latest mass shootings in America, healing will be a long time in coming, if it comes at all. Indeed, America itself is grievously wounded and torn apart with no healing in sight.
This is the fifth mass shooting I’ve written about and that’s only a fraction of the ones that have occurred in the ten years I’ve been writing these Blogs. I’ve added it to the Sorrow category because that’s where I’m stuck – in deep and profound Sorrow for the country I call home and all of the people baffled, angry, and grieving for loved ones lost to gun violence perpetrated by a stranger. As I go about my daily activities, it feels somehow wrong to be leading a normal life while possessed of the knowledge that this random, senseless violence will certainly happen again. America has done nothing, nothing whatsoever to address this endemic and ugly pattern of serial tragedy.
My thoughts turn to the orphaned children, the bereft parents, the shattered lives in the two American cities added to the mind numbing list of locales made infamous by “an active shooter.”
Yes, we’ve made those words common parlance that even my eight year old grandson knows, but doesn’t understand. And who could understand? Who could possibly understand America’s failure to enact common sense gun laws that protect it’s citizens, it’s prospective immigrants, it’s visitors. We can be forgiven if we give in to despair. Indeed, what will it take to move the collective will of Americans to say, in the word of the Parkland survivors, ENOUGH!
I normally put Resources on a separate page. However, since a call to action is the only way I feel that I can be of any use to victims and help prevent future massacres, I’m including links to groups that have been started and maintained by survivors.
https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/
The proliferation of weapons of war in America is one factor in these horrific events but the underlying causes are Fear and Hate. We have a chance at control in our individual lives over these emotions. Educating ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren about history and the meaning of Freedom and Justice for all is a place to begin.
