SLAUGHTER

Tears fell in Virginia today. Sobs were heard across the country. A gunman with a Visa has broken our hearts. Why do we cry? Why do we feel anger, grievance, indignation and fear? Some say we need better campus security. Some say we need gun control. Some say they understand the gunman was mad at his girlfriend. Some were sure that he was a terrorist. Some are sure it will happen again. Some fear for their children. Many, even those who say they do not believe, thanked God that it was not his son, his father, his sister or his brother. They thanked God it wasn’t them. And then life goes on.

We check the stock reports to see how oil is doing and whether our investments are making us money. We watch the news and listen to experts analyze the reasons and predict the next political agenda. We listen to radio shows while experts rationalize behaviors. And then we thank God again that it wasn’t us. We pray a little. cry a little And then turn on The Sopranos or hateful rap music or Howard Stern. And we wonder why? We wonder how?

How did you get the weapons? Why did he kill others and not just his girlfriend? Why didn’t the alarm go off earlier? Who can we blame? Who is guilty?

We’re. We have created everything we see and feel. we are to blame. We have encouraged and allowed our children to listen to the hate. We have taught children in other countries to listen to our anger, our negativity, our thirst for money and love. We give them talks on the radio and TV and movies and music that portray us as atheistic, misogynistic, decadent imperialists who only believe in money, sex and violence. We interpret the right to bear arms to mean that we can all bear arms and use them as we wish. We interpret the right to free speech to mean that we can say anything to anyone, anywhere we want. We read the words of the Statue of Liberty and interpret “tired and poor, the huddled masses” to mean anyone from anywhere who wants to use or abuse us. We interpret the constitution to mean that only some of us are in one nation under God. So what do we do now? How do we avoid more broken hearts, more senseless deaths? How do we start to heal?

We cannot heal if we mask the cause. We cannot begin to balance our lives through surgery. If we only put borders on our schools, who have we imprisoned? If we advocate for gun control for another generation and only allow access to guns to murderers, who have we protected? If we send our kids to the mall with credit cards and give them computers and the freedom to choose before they have the basis for behavior, how will they lead the next generation? If we teach advocacy and say we can’t stop these things from happening, we can only learn to respond when it happens, how do we teach our children, our family, our country to move forward and grow?

Americans must stand up and reclaim their birthright. Americans must take responsibility for what we have created within our limits. It starts at home. Start with the FCC. It starts with overcoming the fear that someone will not like us if we do what is right, rather than what is accepted by the herd. It starts with the government, a government that is supposed to be of the people and for the people. A government that is not supposed to provide funds, but leadership. A government that should not have personal agendas, but solutions. A government that shouldn’t tax every fix Americans need and then freely give to those who aren’t or don’t want to be Americans.

We, the people of the United States of America, must claim our responsibility as Americans. Being an American means that we believe in one nation under God. We believe that charity begins at home. We believe and know that hard work made our country great and that continuing that work isn’t that hard when you love what you’re doing. We the people need to take our children by the hand and teach them, or re-teach them, that they have been given the gift of life and liberty, and that this gift does not come unconditionally. We need them to know that being an American means bearing arms to defend their country and that free speech means honoring their words and the people they are spoken to. We need them to learn that they are responsible for choosing the people who work for them, that they govern them, and that the right to choose is uniquely American.

We can only start healing when we stop the churning of the crucible. We can only begin to find the cause and change it when we are true to ourselves. When we admit that we have been lazy to get our government to do the right thing for the country, and therefore the right thing for our family. When we admit that all the people of our country who have chosen to live by the laws, language and beliefs of our country are our family. When we admit that we have not been the parents we were meant to be, the workers we were meant to be, the faithful we were meant to be, or even the warriors we were meant to be. When we stop the exclusively masculine energy that always depends on the warrior and find the balance between the masculine and the feminine that allows peace, vision, truth and responsibility towards the Earth and the people of it.

Tears fell in Virginia and unless we start with ourselves and start teaching each other the ways to live on this Earth, they will fall again. Who, then, will you blame?