Once again the country is experiencing a collective frustration. That is what follows these tragic events. Everyone knows there is little that can be done. No matter the cries for gun control, resource officers at schools, security measures, alarm systems and any number of proposals, we all know there is little that can be done. It is a frustration!
My frustration stems from the fact that I will hear a bunch of proposals that I believe to be nothing more than knee jerk reactions. The whole gun control thing. Why anyone with any intelligence at all would believe that passing legislation to restrict the right of sane people to own guns will prevent insane people from using them totally escapes me. Pass all the legislation you like, those guns are not going to disappear and crazy people will still get them! Insane people don't care about the law! Even if you could magically make every single gun on earth disappear, the crazy people will still find a way to kill other people!
What has led us to this point? I don't have an answer for that and neither does anyone else. It isn't something that happened overnight. All the great minds of today can study the problem and offer their opinions. None of that matters. You can not change the past. Even if you could identify the cause what can be done today? That is the frustration. We all want to stop this from happening and we all know we can't. I am one that acknowledges that reality. I will not try to hide from it, deny it, or pretend that I can somehow alter the course. I would agree to take every precaution, to make our society as safe as possible.
I have nothing to offer that is of any real value, just opinions. In my opinion when you raise generations of people that believe they are entitled, those same generations begin to expect those entitlements. When people are taught that they deserve, or should receive the same as everyone else regardless of any effort they expended, or didn't expend, you get this reaction. Why do people strike out? Anger is the answer. Yes it can lead to madness, any really strong emotion can do that. The question is where does this anger come from?
In my opinion it comes from those that feel they are not being treated fairly. Why do they feel this way? They have been taught that. They have been taught that they should always be happy, always get the trophy, always get the prize. They should be placated and compensated for every wrong that ever befalls them. When that doesn't happen, the anger builds. And now, in more recent years they are being taught to be vigilantes! Yes, they call it protest, exercising my first amendment rights and all of that. Just strike out and make a statement! The greater the civil unrest you can generate the better! There is even the chance of fame!
I'm not one to do something, just to do something. A lot of folks want to take that path to somehow feel they have accomplished something. That is what I believe a lot of these proposals amount too. There are just feel good measures to say, I did this. The thinking being, doing something, anything, even if it is wrong or ineffective, is better than doing nothing at all. I understand that completely but punishing others for actions they have not taken is inherently wrong! That makes you no better than the ones doing the wrong you are trying to prevent! It's the same mindset, striking out in anger and frustration.
The bottom line for me is a simple one. You can not legislate human behavior. The law can only delineate what is acceptable and unacceptable in a society. The law that regulates human behavior we call religion. It is our religious practices that control our morality. As that practice diminishes in a society so too the moral fabric of that society deteriorates. What can be done about that? That's the frustration?
My frustration stems from the fact that I will hear a bunch of proposals that I believe to be nothing more than knee jerk reactions. The whole gun control thing. Why anyone with any intelligence at all would believe that passing legislation to restrict the right of sane people to own guns will prevent insane people from using them totally escapes me. Pass all the legislation you like, those guns are not going to disappear and crazy people will still get them! Insane people don't care about the law! Even if you could magically make every single gun on earth disappear, the crazy people will still find a way to kill other people!
What has led us to this point? I don't have an answer for that and neither does anyone else. It isn't something that happened overnight. All the great minds of today can study the problem and offer their opinions. None of that matters. You can not change the past. Even if you could identify the cause what can be done today? That is the frustration. We all want to stop this from happening and we all know we can't. I am one that acknowledges that reality. I will not try to hide from it, deny it, or pretend that I can somehow alter the course. I would agree to take every precaution, to make our society as safe as possible.
I have nothing to offer that is of any real value, just opinions. In my opinion when you raise generations of people that believe they are entitled, those same generations begin to expect those entitlements. When people are taught that they deserve, or should receive the same as everyone else regardless of any effort they expended, or didn't expend, you get this reaction. Why do people strike out? Anger is the answer. Yes it can lead to madness, any really strong emotion can do that. The question is where does this anger come from?
In my opinion it comes from those that feel they are not being treated fairly. Why do they feel this way? They have been taught that. They have been taught that they should always be happy, always get the trophy, always get the prize. They should be placated and compensated for every wrong that ever befalls them. When that doesn't happen, the anger builds. And now, in more recent years they are being taught to be vigilantes! Yes, they call it protest, exercising my first amendment rights and all of that. Just strike out and make a statement! The greater the civil unrest you can generate the better! There is even the chance of fame!
I'm not one to do something, just to do something. A lot of folks want to take that path to somehow feel they have accomplished something. That is what I believe a lot of these proposals amount too. There are just feel good measures to say, I did this. The thinking being, doing something, anything, even if it is wrong or ineffective, is better than doing nothing at all. I understand that completely but punishing others for actions they have not taken is inherently wrong! That makes you no better than the ones doing the wrong you are trying to prevent! It's the same mindset, striking out in anger and frustration.
The bottom line for me is a simple one. You can not legislate human behavior. The law can only delineate what is acceptable and unacceptable in a society. The law that regulates human behavior we call religion. It is our religious practices that control our morality. As that practice diminishes in a society so too the moral fabric of that society deteriorates. What can be done about that? That's the frustration?
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