Oh for the innocents

dancepartner

I just posted this on Dancing Partners—thought I'd share.

Several years ago a popluar book within Christian circles came out; The Shack. It was about a father who grappled with Jesus over his young 6 year old Missy's life being snuffed out after being abducted & raped. The book fell short for me; an acceptance that with free will comes a price thereby leaving Jesus with the role of holding her hand through the whole nightmare, that never was she left alone—that nobody is ever alone. What about her free will?
Though fictional, the story & this question has stayed with me since, fully aware this horrific scenario happens each and every day to our innocents, the ones we must protect from the free will of sub-humans because evidently, the free will of another causing them to become a victim, is overpowered by a demonic one.

Now, we must grapple with just how we're supposed to process the horror in Connecticut. In November, I grappled with the same questions as I read about the Wyoming tradegy; September in Minnesota, August in Wisconsin, July in a Colorado theatre. How many of us remember which year and how many innocents were tallied at Columbine or in Oklahoma? For me, I had to look it up; 1995 in Oklahoma where of the 168 victims, 19 preschoolers were once playing that morning. In 1999 in Colorado, 13 was the tally of these sub-humans. We remember the names of the monsters, but few faces to keep burning in our memories for all the Missy's.

As the weeks rage on about gun control, I see this like a cop out. Another excuse for us to expect from our government, some authority or anyone else rather than the very each one of us, to be held responsible to protect our innocent and all the while—those precious faces will fade from our sight and we will move on.

I don't want us to move on to any next breaking news story anymore. I want us to keep our emotions alive about this one. This one is enough. Somehow we must propel ourselves to collectively accept with our eyes wide open, what responsiblities we are shirking, and what is happening in our society—why are we spawning a new-type of demonic monster? I want us to see it's our palms in which the little hands of every precious Missy holds tight for protection.

mickeyrat

thank you.

mickeyrat

seemed right to post thi sin here.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/unwrap ... SOC-SHR-FB

hedonist

dancepartner wrote:

As the weeks rage on about gun control, I see this like a cop out. Another excuse for us to expect from our government, some authority or anyone else rather than the very each one of us, to be held responsible to protect our innocent and all the while—those precious faces will fade from our sight and we will move on.

We will move on - I think we have to at some point (yes, easier for me to say so from this distance).

I really like your thoughts up there about accountability.

We need to not only recognize that responsibility to ourselves and to others, but act on it as well.

Live it.

dancepartner

mickeyrat & hedonist; thanks. I had hoped this would take off in the direction you've taken it. So far so good. I was reading mickeyrats post "a new light shed" and other posts as well and I'm glad to see not everyone is mired down in gun control but rather questioning what is leading up to this kind of depravity.

I'd like us to try and keep some focus on: mental illness, the breakdown of family and what happens when endless hours are being spent with such an array of techno-toys rather than real live family members in work & play. These endless hours don't even have to be violent video watching though studies long ago showed what our brains look like when overdosed with such. But we, not just our kids, are also numbing & overloading our own brains and though these studies are just starting to pop up, there's a common sense bottom line to all of it: overindulgence of anything is just too damn much and that includes TV & computers.
It's time to consider just what exampled lesson we are teaching our own kids.
I posted this on "new light". Hopefully, a few of us will stick to either thread for a bit.

dignin

dancepartner wrote:

mickeyrat & hedonist; thanks. I had hoped this would take off in the direction you've taken it. So far so good. I was reading mickeyrats post "a new light shed" and other posts as well and I'm glad to see not everyone is mired down in gun control but rather questioning what is leading up to this kind of depravity.

I'd like us to try and keep some focus on: mental illness, the breakdown of family and what happens when endless hours are being spent with such an array of techno-toys rather than real live family members in work & play. These endless hours don't even have to be violent video watching though studies long ago showed what our brains look like when overdosed with such. But we, not just our kids, are also numbing & overloading our own brains and though these studies are just starting to pop up, there's a common sense bottom line to all of it: overindulgence of anything is just too damn much and that includes TV & computers.
It's time to consider just what exampled lesson we are teaching our own kids.
I posted this on "new light". Hopefully, a few of us will stick to either thread for a bit.

I agree with most everything you have posted here except the gun control issue. I don't see it as a cop out at all, just one of many solutions to a very complex problem. It is something that can have an immediate impact as has been shown in other countries. The rest of these problems/solutions will take a much longer time, none can be done overnight.

dancepartner

digin; thanks for input and you're right but I leave out gun control because I'm looking for common ground we can all agree on. By the looks of the threads here of late, Gun control offers no easy common ground. Many issues are volitile and I believe we (society) have tuned-out because of this. I truly believe we have to build from bottom up before we can tackle hot topics.

mickeyrat

we are consistantly bombarded with negative things.

How about the good news report or something to that effect. we would still have to get past the unconcious need to look at the proverbial car wreck. For some reason we as humans have this desire to view things of that sort.

dancepartner

It's odd alright. We talk about how disgusting it was for news reporters to to shove microphones into those little faces but yet, why do we know that happened lest we watched? We crane our necks to look at the car wreck as we drive by. When I see a deer smucked on the roadside, I don't want to see blood & gore yet I look anyway. But, we choose to be civilized. To do this, we must never forget the animal which resides in each of us -- down to our very core.
As for positives, yes. I really see most all humanity has a good handle on being civilized; basic common decency now resides right alongside the beast within. We've adapted. And in that, what once used to be delved out communally, needs brought back into the picture. Our kids need to see our actions branch further out, not stopping at our own sidewalk. Me-me attitudes need upgraded; back to communal. 50 years of being saturated with the boob tube and now, 20 yrs of being drawn inside to these screens is long enough. Life is out there. We need to spend a bit of time re-cultivating that.
Communal stints such as Boy & girl scouts, local beautification projects, always but always, the needful PTA type groups, pee-wee football etc....
I posted other ideas on "a new light". Maybe someone will share their ideas. Maybe an idea will spark another to think about what they can offer. Maybe we can inspire each other to get off the couch and out the door.

I don't know if this exists in other communities but I always thought a regular skills revival would be one way for us to interact with our community youth; old coots could pass on their knowledge about how to whittle, carve or knit, we might pass on handy-dandy how to's like "Do it Yourself" fixing, soldering plumbing, rewiring a lamp etc..

dancepartner

seriously, what's wrong with a skills revival concept? How many of our young adults know the many little tricks to keep a house going and repaired anymore? With automation everything, along with the culteral revolution, my generation didn't do very well in preparing our youth for these many little things that pop up 'round the house.