My middle son and I many, many years ago.
Did you feel it this morning? That little touch of fear as your kids got on the bus? Last Friday morning, you didn’t think a thing about it, did you? Nope, it was just the everyday chaos of getting your kids out the door. But the world changed Friday. OK, the world probably didn’t change, but our perception of it did. Our bubble of security was popped by a mentally ill young man who savagely killed beautiful, innocent children. And a part of our innocence died with them.
Sure the odds are such that it is highly unlikely that we’d ever be affected by such a tragedy. But we know a little about the odds here in Mississippi. Ask the parents of the students shot at Pearl High School. Ask my friend who was shot by a man firing on people with an AK-47. The odds are what they are.
I’m a firm believer that good things come from bad situations. But this one — well this one is much more difficult. The slaughter of young children is nearly impossible to find a silver lining for. But maybe some good can come from such a horrific page in our history. As a nation, we’re going to have some grownup conversations about mass shootings. What are the roots of these type of killings? Is our mental health system failing the very people it needs to be helping? And I’d imagine we will discuss a topic that is almost sacred in the South: Guns.
It won’t be easy. But we’ll do it. Right now, though, we’ll mourn as little bodies are lowered into the grown much too soon.
I saw my middle son as I walked out the door. I was at a loss for words so I just looked at his blue eyes, blonde hair and his smile. My brain knows he will have a good, safe day today. But my heart worries just a bit.
And I won’t take for granted when I see his face again.
Lovely…and heart wrenching. Don’t have any children but can imagine what you’re feeling.
an excellent blog about a dreadfully sad event
You put into words what many parents/grandparents are feeling this very day. So many tears for those babies and their families.
I’d be willing to have a conversation about possible further gun controls if an overhaul of our (lack of) mental health care system is part of it. I genuinely don’t believe we have a gun problem, what we have is a mental health care problem. Remember the naked off-her-meds lady with the replica flintlock who was shot dead by police? That wasn’t really a gun problem. It was a mental health problem. I know of two schizophrenics, a Veteran with PTSD, and a couple with two autistic children; there are no guns in any of those households, because of the risks. That’s what responsible gun owners do, they get rid of their weapons. I don’t think even a gun safe would be sufficient; keys could be stolen, combinations extracted via torture or threat. The take away I get from all of this is “If you don’t treat the mentally ill, you are going to be up to your eyeballs in untreated mentally ill people, and what do you think is going to happen if soooo many people aren’t getting treatment?” Did you read “I am Adam Lanza’s Mother” by the mother of a spiralling out of control autistic kid? It’s very sobering and real portraid of what life is like for these folks… and she is one of the LUCKY ones who actually has some amount of health insurance, and knows how to seek help and work the system. Original here: http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com/2012/12/thinking-unthinkable.html?m=1
WELL SAID!!! and even though my children are out of school and my grandbaby is not oldest enough for school yet I still worry about the one that are in school today. I wonder what it will be like when my grandbaby is in school will be have to have armed guards for the schools so our precious little ones will be safe.
Thank you, Marshall Ramsey, for putting into words what so many of us are feeling and just don’t know how to express. My heart aches every time I see the names of the children and their protectors flashed across the screen.
Gun control will certainly be a topic that is discussed and argued over for the next six months, if not longer, but I agree with Robin’s assessment! The mentally ill and an overhaul of the mental health system is desperately needed in this country…