Thursday, January 03, 2013

More Guns are Not the Answer, More LOVE is...

More people owning guns isn't what we need to stop more shootings from happening.

More parents parenting is.
More friends looking out for each other is.
More people treating each other with dignity and respect is.

The majority of school/mall/movie theater shooters were disturbed young men who'd exhibited behavior and signs that were obvious to anyone who cared to take the time to notice them long before the embarked on their deadly rampage.

Had their parents been more active and involved in the kids lives, those signs would have been observed and help possibly obtained.
Had someone been a friend and offered an ear to listen, those disturbed young people might have begun to feel hope.
Had society placed more importance on treating each other with dignity and respect instead of being so self-absorbed and 'me me me', maybe those shooters would have felt like they mattered and never gotten to the point of thinking killing people was the only way their lives would ever mean anything.

Remove your kid from in front of the video game and be a parent.
Detach the cell phone from your kids ear and be a parent.
Ditch McDonald's for a sit down spaghetti dinner with your kid and be a parent.

Call someone you haven't talked to in a while and be a friend.
Invite an old pal over for dinner and be a friend.
Send someone a card just because you can and be a friend.

Smile at the next person you pass and show kindness.
Offer to get that item on the shelf that someone can't reach at the grocery store and express kindness.
Let someone who has fewer items in line check out before you and express kindness.

In 1997 - before stabbing his mom to death and walking into Pearl High School with a rifle Luke Woodham wrote this note...
I am not insane, I am angry. I killed because people like me are mistreated every day. I did this to show society, push us and we will push back. ... All throughout my life, I was ridiculed, always beaten, always hated. Can you, society, truly blame me for what I do? Yes, you will. ... It was not a cry for attention, it was not a cry for help. It was a scream in sheer agony saying that if you can't pry your eyes open, if I can't do it through pacifism, if I can't show you through the displaying of intelligence, then I will do it with a bullet

More people having guns would not have stopped Luke from being the object of bullying and abuse...
More people having guns would not have stopped James Holmes from suddenly dropping out of college and becoming isolated and unstable...
More people having guns would not have stopped Adam Lanza from staying holed up in his mother's basement playing terrorist style video games...

But more people taking an active and caring role in their lives may have....

Teach your children to respect themselves and others.
Teach them that they are WORTHY.
Teach them to combat fear and hate with LOVE....

 ....so that they never feel the isolation and loneliness that those children did
.....so that they know they are never alone no matter how bad things may seem
.....so that they respect and value themselves and their lives...

which will help them value and respect the lives of others.

0 People who coughed on a furball: