Saturday, December 15, 2012

If I Had a Magic Wand

I wish I had a magic wand. I would take away all the stress in the world that makes us loose our temper. I would make all ill children well. I would make us all respect and love each other.

A child doesn't grow up wanting to be bad. They don't say, "some day I want to be a mass murderer". It takes years of frustration and pain to bring a person to that point.

I do believe in gun control, although it is the person doing the shooting that kills, it wouldn't be so easy for them to do it if they didn't have one in their hand.

Gun control does not mean that you have to give up your right to bear arms. It just means that you have to register your hunting weapons and that people with criminal records and mental illness can't buy weapons. It also means that no one can own assault weapons that have no place other than the military. It doesn't mean that there will be no guns, it means that there will be less on the street, and fewer around to kill your children with.

But there is more to the equation than guns. There is the sensitive mind of the shooter. What drives a person to do that? We had a shooting here not long ago. I wrote about Coming Back to Chardon earlier this year. The young man who did it was very troubled, had a rough family life and just maybe, was a bit dissociated from reality.

Maybe we need to look at our neighbors a bit more closely, if we think they're suffering, maybe instead of shaking our head, we should say hello, how are you today. If they're walking with their head down, maybe it means they need a lift, not that they're just anti social.

I'm not really good at this myself, I get angry at the bullies that tease my grandsons, or push them down and hurt them. But I do understand that they are not getting the guidance they need at home. I also know that my bullied boys are at risk of fighting back some day, and we talk to them, guide them, and love them. Not every parent does.

You get a licence to drive a car, someday you may need a license to carry a gun, but will anyone ever need a licence to raise children? Will there ever be mandatory classes that teach you the basic emotional needs of a child?

2 comments:

Pili said...

I agree with all the points you are rising, and I'm afraid that somehow a lot of people are just having kids but not raising them, educating them and instead just sort of throw them at the world...

And also, how people get so outraged about not wanting to give up the right of having a gun, but don't give a shit about a right of having good health care? How is a gun more important that being able to afford medication? WTF is wrong with that people??

akaCINDERS said...

Pili, People here have been mistakenly told that they will pay for the health care of others. What they don't realize is that they already pay for the ill health of others. With a healthy nation there will be less people on disability, less seeking health in emergency rooms, or not paying medical bills that raise the cost of everyone's health care overall.

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