It Has to Stop

Gun control.

Mental health.

"If I'd been there, I would have gone in myself, even without a gun".

Words, words, words.

After the millionth fucking school shooting a month ago today, it seems so hideously and alarmingly...normal.

How did this happen?

Guns. Fucking guns.

Emma Gonzalez telling that buttoned up, out of touch lady from the NRA that she cares more about her kids than NRA lady does.

Backpedal. Backpedal.
Obfuscate.
Prevaricate.
Deflect.
Lie.
Lie,
Lie.
Dead children lie on the grounds of their schools. And teachers who tried to save them.

All. Fall. Down.

Look, someone who's depressed is not going to shoot up a school. He's going to shoot himself.

Someone with an anxiety disorder is way to freaked out and caught in her own head to go and get a gun, let alone shoot at ANYTHING.

It is far more likely for a person with mental health issues to hurt THEMSELVES than others.

So don't just blame mental health on this. The key ingredient in all of this is guns. Motherfucking guns. They're too easy to get, too easy to use, and always end in tragedy.

But He Who Must Not Be Named is all about changing the narrative. Who cares how easy it is to get a gun? Let's all just take more Prozac and hope for the best!

His ignorance is stupefying. Terrifying.

I am just so fucking sad. And scared.

Even when I see a police officer with a gun, I am leery. Power can go to your head. People trained to shoot or kill are trained to depersonalize others. My fighter pilot cousin told me things that made my blood run cold.

When I taught high school in Southern California, my students complained all the time about getting stopped by the cops because of the color of their skin, the size of their t-shirt, whether or not their boxers were showing. They were kids. They were drinking Slushies.

In Canada, when I was growing up, police had batons. That is SO Canadian.

"Get back, eh, or I'll beat at you like a kid does to a pinata. Seriously, okay?"

Still, a club is better than guns. My Canadian friend told me that the cops in Canada now carry guns. I didn't know that. I guess I'm more of a tazer person, as these things go. Not pleasant, sure, but not deadly. I mean, for fuck's sake. Why does everything have to be ALL or NOTHING in this country?

In my desperation to make sense of all of this tragedy, I bought four different political/fundraising t-shirts within a week.

Today, young people all over the country stood silently for seventeen minutes to honor the dead. And today, the police did their jobs with grace and aplomb, protecting the teachers and students and staff, and allowing them to share their grief and solidarity.

My heart breaks as I see and hear these images and words of the youth of today standing up and saying, NOT ONE MORE. All of those silent students, with their heavy backpacks and their heavier hearts. What a horrible legacy.

It's time for the grown-ups to start acting like these kids, before another victim is murdered.

Wear orange, be safe, choose love, not hate. And follow the children. They know better.