helpless

 The vast majority of these blogs are written first thing while drinking my morning coffee. Some days I wake up with a topic in mind and at others I have to think about it. Rarely am I unable to write something. This morning I woke up with the realization of another school shooting and the news had only gotten worse overnight. Children, completely innocent children and their teachers shot down by an 18-year-old mental case. There is no determining motive, no reason, no explanation to be found in that. This is one of those times when even the most devout question their God. Why? There will never be an answer, never. 

 The response will be a cry for banning guns. That's where the blame will eventually be placed. I understand that, I get it. We have to place blame somewhere in order to "correct" the problem. In this instance, with what is being called "gun violence" today, the correction is to ban the gun. The thinking being, if crazy people can't get guns, no one gets hurt. Or, if we limit the number of shots fired, fewer people will get shot. But the reality is quite different. The reality is these crimes, and I don't even call them crimes, they are atrocities against humanity, are committed by mentally ill people! 

 There has always been those with bad intentions. There will always be those with bad intentions. That is the ultimate frustration, the helpless feeling we all have when these atrocities take place. If every gun were to magically disappear, atrocities will still occur. The answer is not to ban guns. As appealing as it may seem to some, it just isn't the answer. The truth, the God awful truth in all of this is simple enough, you are not going to stop madness! Those wishing to do harm to others will always find a method! Guns, knives, clubs, baseball bats, chemicals, automobiles, airplanes, and any number of things can be utilized to create mass destruction and casualties. You can't ban everything. 

 I'm no different than anyone else. I'm horrified, angered, frustrated, and grief stricken, all at the same time. Why did that happen? How did that happen? Was there anything that could have been done to prevent that from happening? And there are no answers to any of those questions. How does a heart become that dark? Never mind about how the person gets whatever instrument they use to perform these atrocities. We should be concerned with how a person gets to that state of mind. And in that lies the frustration. There simply isn't much we can do at all. It's a helpless feeling. We are helpless against those with intent to do harm. The best we can do is to try to mitigate the damage. When it comes to lives lost, one is far too many! Banning guns? Is that the answer? Will that correct the problem? No, it will not.