Let's All Cut the B.S. and Stop Senseless Violence

When despair for the world grows in me ....

I have always been amazed and then saddened about people being unwilling to perceive a problem when it is staring them in the face. I too like poet Wendell Berry have used nature as my solace and comfort but instead of just passively lying down I choose to act as well, "when the despair for the world grows in me."

All of this, despair lately has centered around our inept, unfit, corrupt #45 and now, most acutely, on the latest slaughter in Florida.

When despair for the world grows in me 

and I wake in the night at the least sound 

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, 

I go and lie down where the wood drake 

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I have been so impressed by the very young adults from Stoneman Douglas high school who have stood up to all of the adults in this country with their articulate demand for gun control. It is not going to take a village, it is going to take a country united against the slaughter of innocents. I am deeply saddened that it's taken the deaths of 17 more innocents [by another lone young white man apparently a white supremacist sympathizer] to rally and take a strong stand against the NRA. Was it the adults? No, it was the young high school students who are taking the strong stand against the NRA. They are unafraid of that organization and are calling out all of the politicians who are the NRA's toadies--- bowing and scraping for the generous bloody handouts. 

“They say that tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence — we call B.S.!” she continued as a chorus of supporters echoed her. “They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun — we call B.S.! They say guns are just tools like knives and are as dangerous as cars — we call B.S.! They say that no laws could have been able to prevent the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred — we call B.S.! That us kids don’t know what we’re talking about, that we’re too young to understand how the government works — we call B.S.!”             Emma Gonzales a student at Stoneman Douglas H.S.

They have called B.S. on the "it's not time to talk about guns... it's time to grieve". As Emma said, "this is how we grieve, we want action on gun control." 

Keep in mind that these mass murders do not happen in other countries, especially first world ones. Australia hasn't had a mass murder since they banned assault weapons in 1997. They are openly appalled at our lack of guts to ban assault weapons. And don't give me the line about mental illness, as someone pointed out "interestingly, many women have mental illness and yet 98% of the mass murders in this country are male" who have easy assess to guns.

To turn this around, I'd like to focus on neighborliness. Then all of our issues become much clearer. This will require a generosity of heart and thought. There are those who are literally afraid of neighborliness, they are red hot to label this thinking as socialist or communist. Please ignore the mean-spirit that runs amok in the country and in the world. Instead let's focus on what happens when there is a natural disaster as well as this current national gun carnage crisis. 

In Houston, as well as in the other hurricane ravaged cities, during and then after the flood there were so many stories of ordinary citizens rescuing their fellow neighbors, humans and animals alike. Some risked their lives for these others by treating all of them as their neighbors. So on a personal level this is how we must treat our country with the same courage and neighborliness.   

Neighbor, we can turn things around, joining forces for good. No one wants more children to die due to inaction. World wide, until very recently, the U.S. was know for it's generosity and kindness. We were loved not feared. For example, the U.S. women started the Woman's March in part to protest the current administration and in part to stand up proudly for women's rights. As a participant I watched in awe as the Woman's March was held world wide with millions of participants who joined us and there was nary an incident of violence. Millions.We are a force for good.

Kindness doesn't cost a cent, but it pays rich dividends. Susan R. Grout

There are many ways to practice neighborliness. The personal hero is important but because of this crisis ---our children being slaughtered--- we must also require the private sector, the politicians, the corporations, the government, the churches all being involved in being neighborly. When everybody has a stake in maintaining a viable, healthy community and country this caring at a deeper level can bring emotional maturity. Emotional maturity means that you step up to the responsibility of helping your neighbor and your neighbor's children.  Good models of neighborliness and maturity come from the prophets and Jesus himself: "love your neighbor as yourself","love one another". By ignoring or trivializing this important issue of gun control, "oh, but you are in our thoughts and prayers!" trivializes the depth of grief of those who have lost a child to a gun. That is an acute case of inaction, merely thinking rather than taking up a banner. 

Neighborliness is key. Do take it personally.  Getting caught up in an abstract discussion with labels takes energy away from what our real concerns ought to be: a healthy, caring, prosperous, respectful, successful nation filled with healthy, educated citizens and especially--- loved and cared for children.

Then filled with this passion to be good neighbors, we must act, and for God's sake, not let the matter drop. Right now, there is movement afoot all over this country. On March 14 the teachers and the students will walk out for 14 minutes to protest the inaction by our politicians on gun control, the need to keep our children safe. On March 24th there are marches all across the country against the NRA and for gun control. Moms Demand Action, Every town for Gun Safety, the Brady Campaign, the Washington Coalition for Gun Control are just a few of the organizations who are working to stop the carnage. They deserve your support if you care about the children of this country.

Vote, recruit your friends and family to take up the cause for action. Donate to one of the very worthy organizations that are helping to pass gun legislation. Be kind to your neighbor, volunteer and do take good care of  yourself. A nice way to do this is to forest bathe or just take a walk and smile at your neighbors. You never know who is going to need your help. Love is always welcome, neighbor.

Here's the entire poem.

The Peace of Wild Things

By  Wendell Berry 

When despair for the world grows in me 

and I wake in the night at the least sound 

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, 

I go and lie down where the wood drake 

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things 

who do not tax their lives with forethought 

of grief. I come into the presence of still water. 

And I feel above me the day-blind stars 

waiting with their light. For a time 

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry, "The Peace of Wild Things" from The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry. Copyright © 1998. Published and reprinted by arrangement with Counterpoint Press.

Peace be with you

susansmagicfeather 2018 copyright Susan R. Grout all rights reserved