The Silence of the Lambs During the Slaughter
The number of mass shootings continues to rise, but nothing is changing.
When I was young, I could watch TV shows and movies and see someone get shot quite easily.
Usually, there was very little blood if there was any blood at all. The victim looked asleep, and whatever pain was portrayed was abstract.
Of course it was abstract. I was a child, and it was make believe.
In simpler times, children could be shielded from the horrible effects of gunfire. They could afford to believe that gun violence existed in some fictional netherworld where everyone eventually woke up and washed off the fake blood.
They could be protected from real gun violence because even though the world was and always has been violent, there was a veil, a curtain that could be drawn to separate little ones from what must have seen the most harsh, cruelest world anyone could imagine.
Today, the veil is torn, the curtain destroyed.
From an extremely early age, no matter how hard we work to protect our children, today’s kids come to understand that we live in a savagely violent society. They understand the harsh realities of gun violence.
They understand because they know or have known someone who has been the victim of gun violence, if they haven’t themselves become a casualty.
Keep in mind that this state of the world doesn’t exist everywhere.
Just the United States of America.
It’s the middle of February 2023. In January, there were a total of 52 mass shootings. Eighty-seven people were killed, and 205 were wounded. So far this month, there have 22 mass shootings. Twenty-three people have been killed, and 104 have been wounded.
The month isn’t over yet.
And how much death and carnage will March bring?
We pride ourselves on being civilized. We believe that we are enlightened because of our demonstrable wealth, because we are a world leader in technology and innovation. We are by all measurements the wealthiest nation in history.
In reality, our smug superiority is a flimsy covering for a bankrupt, soulless society that worships firearms more than anything.
More than Jesus Christ.
More than money.
More than decency, safety, and security.
More than human life.
There is a sadly accurate quote from someone who said that the debate on gun control in America ended the day that the Sandy Hook massacre was accepted. The person went on to state that when we decided that it was okay to kill children, the debate was officially over.
He was and continues to be one hundred percent correct.
Nowhere else on earth would there such criminal, cowardly inaction.
Anywhere else, there wouldn’t be a debate or discussion.
Something would be done.
But not here, not in the good old US of A, the home of the killed and the massacred.
Parents of school shootings not able to recognize their children due to the damage inflicted on their bodies by assault weapons isn’t enough to change things.
The damning headlines that confront us, day after day, month after month, year after year, saying that human beings have slaughtered other human beings, often with weapons that belong only in the hands of the military and law enforcement.
These headlines aren’t enough for us to rethink our gun laws.
Law enforcement officials who decry the ease of obtaining handheld weapons of mass destruction aren’t influential enough to bring about change.
None of these things seem capable of making a dent in a culture where we are drunk on the lie of “American exceptionalism,” which includes our undying obeisance to John Wayne, Rambo, Dirty Harry, and a host of other armed White men who shoot first and don’t ask questions.
Yes, there is a basis of truth for American exceptionalism.
We are exceptional at allowing legal bloodletting.
We are exceptional at murdering men, women, children, and the elderly because we don’t possess the morality and humanity to authentically cherish and honor life, despite our slavish devotion to “pro-life” causes.
We are exceptional at allowing the National Rifle Association to pander, influence, and corrupt our society in the name of “preserving the right to bear arms.”
Who really believes that the framers of the Constitution valued “the right to bear arms” over human life?
Over the lives of children?
Are we serious in believing that the lives of children and adults in Sandy Hook, Parkland, and Columbine were less important than the “right to bear arms?”
My innocent childhood is long gone.
I’m almost 60.
I understand what guns do to people.
I know more than I ever wanted and cared to know about gun violence.
I won’t ever recapture my innocence, but is it possible that children born today, tomorrow, or a week from now might be able to live in a country with sensible gun laws?
I hope that a nearby generation will benefit from action, and achieve knowledge acquired through little sweat but very much blood.
Too much blood.