Thursday, December 20, 2012

For Shame



Hi all, Wander here. I waited to weigh in on the massacres happening in our country…Sandy hook, and a bit closer to home, the shooting at the Clackamas Town Center six miles from my home…out of respect for the dead, and the living.
Our country is way too reactionary! Shame on you! The bodies weren’t even cold yet and our country spun off into the argument. Everyone just waiting for the chance to spew their opinion about Guns, or Mental health, or NRA, or any number of reactionary responses.  
As the Hindenburg crashed in a flaming inferno the man on the radio, Herbert “Herb” Morrison, wasn’t screaming about the political ramifications of the explosion, he was crying, and made one of the most famous quotes of all times, “Oh the humanity” because he had just witnessed 36 humans die in a flaming inferno.  
January 28th 1986 my mom decided to let us stay home to watch the shuttle take off, the Challenger. As we sat there excitedly watching it go up and up and up we had no concept of what was to happen. 73 seconds after liftoff, thousands and thousands of feet above terra firma it exploded. My sister my mom and I lay on the chase lounge and balled. At school they had brought tv’s into the classes to let the students watch. Within moments our phone was ringing, to tell us there would be no school that day or the next, or the next. From what I remember our country shut down.
Not once in that week did I hear my mom talk about the fact that it was NASA’s fault…or those liberals, or government, or fault. What I did hear was how tragic it was; how the lives of those human beings were cut short. That response left an impression on me.
Flash forward twenty two years and twenty six humans were massacred in a school, twenty of them children gunned down before they had the chance to even live; twenty six precious lives cut down, oh the humanity! I cry as I write this, because I have two small children, I have friends, and I have family members that could have the very same thing happen to them. And because they, the dead, deserve my tears for they are of us.
Our country is too reactionary, I say this because the first I heard of this tragedy was an argument on Facebook about weather guns should be banned. The people arguing didn’t even know the names of the dead, or how many…but oh they knew it was their chance to share their opinion…for shame! Twenty six humans were slain and all they cared about was their opinion, for shame!
There are many factors that go into these slayings, Gun laws, lack of mental health funding, the media’s need to sensationalize everything, and our response as a nation. Rather than arguing about cause and effect first, then showing mourning second, we should pull together and show respect for the dead, and then with rational minds work together to ease the primers for tragedies like this.
 Oh the humanity, twenty six were slain in PA, and two in OR, and I grieve.

Rest in peace
PA
- Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06, female
- Daniel Barden, 9/25/05, male
- Rachel Davino, 7/17/83, female.
- Olivia Engel, 7/18/06, female
- Josephine Gay, 12/11/05, female
- Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06, female
- Dylan Hockley, 3/8/06, male
- Dawn Hochsprung, 06/28/65, female
- Madeleine F. Hsu, 7/10/06, female
- Catherine V. Hubbard, 6/08/06, female
- Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05, male
- Jesse Lewis, 6/30/06, male
- James Mattioli , 3/22/06, male
- Grace McDonnell, 12/04/05, female
- Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60, female
- Emilie Parker, 5/12/06, female
- Jack Pinto, 5/06/06, male
- Noah Pozner, 11/20/06, male
- Caroline Previdi, 9/07/06, female
- Jessica Rekos, 5/10/06, female
- Avielle Richman, 10/17/06, female
- Lauren Rousseau, 6/1982, female (full date of birth not specified)
- Mary Sherlach, 2/11/56, female
- Victoria Soto, 11/04/85, female
- Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06, male
- Allison N. Wyatt, 7/03/06, female

OR
Steven Forsyth
Cindy Ann Yuille


Chris McQueeney    12/20/12    1:39PM


9 comments:

  1. I agree..These children need our respect not our argument. Yes, things need to change, but without rational speech and solutions we will continue the spread of ill will.

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  2. Very true. I wish I could have held off longer.

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  3. The list is staggering. The names, the birth dates, the sex identified of human life now ended. My daughter's year of birth is on the list. She plays in the other room as I type a response. I can't imagine knowing someone took her life, took her life from me, took all of her dreams and mine for her in a needless instant that had nothing to do with her. This story shook me to my core. Why is it people jump to anger and agendas first? Perhaps the grief is so damn overwhelming they dare not let it touch them.

    "Oh the humanity," is a famous line uttered at the end of William Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It is a fitting cry for countless suffering and loss.

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  4. When I saw President Obama read off the names one by one Sunday evening, I was overcome with emotion. If this moment doesn't spur change, when will we ever?

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  5. I would like to add Nancy Lanza to the list...

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  6. Yeah, agreed. I like this post.
    I actually commented on one of Ben's posts that I was really glad I didn't have TV where I was. I just read an article someone posted on Boyfriend's Facebook and I was already crying. It's just plain sad sad SAD!

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    1. Heather...yes, a extremely sad occurrence :-(

      You should send me a Facebook friend request...

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  7. Perhaps people weren't having arguments over NASA in 1986 because space shuttle explosions didn't occur every other day. I do, however, think the conversation for common sense gun safety should have taken place several decades ago, so I don't think there is any shame in discussing it on December 14th, today or tomorrow. Shootings are happening every single minute and it's a tragedy NOT to start having the argument. FOR SHAME that America is so bloody (pun intended) obsessed with GUNS. Enough already. It's nice that you want to remember the children, but what exactly are you willing to do about it to prevent it from happening again?

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  8. First Rebecca I would like you to know that I don't respond well to sarcasm directed at me...there are better ways to have an open dialog than insulting the person you are talking to, serves no good purpose.
    I used the shuttle explosion as an example of what I feel is a more healthy way to handle tragic situations. Yes there needs to be talks, serious talks, and some new laws...not "control " laws "public safety" laws. Both sides need to be willing open the conversation from a position of mutusl respect... or else all you get is disrespect..:

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