Guns and children

So, we have entered into a new day. I'm not sure I like this one all that much. The changes to our world seem to be coming faster and more furiously, or maybe it is just a case of more knowledge and information about what is happening across the world that makes everything seem to be compounding. Regardless, I felt a major shift happened with 9/11/2001 and now again 12/14/2012. The Newtown, CT shooting is challenging us once again as a nation to determine how we will respond to tragic events where someone decided to commit evil against the innocent. It's not fair, it's not ok and it will not be forgotten. But in the midst of this terrible tragedy, we are again drawing the battle lines between our friends and family members across this nation spewing hate and violence of words over gun laws and mental illness practices. The reality of the situation is that we cannot accurately predict where or when this sort of thing will occur. Nor can we specifically determine who is liable to do such terrible things. So, we try to create some kind of control over our lives by enacting stricter laws or creating greater and greater barriers around our lives that we remain immune to the world around us. Both the martial law idea and the citadel idea even though they come to two opposed conclusions stem from the same underlying issue--fear. Since those towers came down in 2001, it should be clear that there are situations outside of our control that we can't predict or adequately prepare for, because as soon as we think we have it covered, there appears another loophole, another way to break through our protective barriers. Although our nation is rabidly searching for a simple inoculation to prevent these tragedies from ever occurring again, the hard truth is that it is not an easy solution required here. Becoming a nation of gun-toting vigilantes or a nation completely locked down with no access to guns-neither solve the deeper issue. Offering more healthcare options to families and individuals struggling with mental illness is a step in the right direction, but I actually want to suggest a more radical idea. As Americans, we have embraced the myth of extreme individualism, a la Ayn Rand, where we are solely responsible for ourselves. This has become a point of pride as seen by many during the latest Presidential election. But the basic problem with this point of view is the myth that the answers to all our problems are found in ourselves. Instead, what if we began to live under the idea that we are interconnected as people and your struggle is my struggle and your victory is my victory? What if we actually believed in community again where we learn to bear one another's burdens while taking responsibility for our own in the midst of accepting help with ours? What if we refrained from pointing the finger at the government/the mother/the gunman/the gun laws/the school rules and started to pull together instead to find a way to become a community again? What if we could all get to a place where we know our neighbors, our community and we don't let fear rule us and encourage us to hide from one another? Maybe it's just me, but I think that is a safer society. I think knowing my community, reaching out when someone is struggling, when something is going wrong, this rebuilding of the "small town" concept where we don't leave people to fend for themselves, but we engage with them and encourage them to find their place and their purpose, I think that's where there is acceptance and security. If I know my community and they know me, then maybe together we can look out for each other and look for the warning signs to prevent tragedies like this from happening again. Maybe my hypothesis is wrong and building a stronger community won't prevent these sorts of events from occurring. But at least in the wake of these tragedies, we would have a strong support system to draw upon.