connecticut

some might say i'm obsessed.  but i cannot process how i feel about the newtown connecticut shootings.  all i feel is a deep-seated rage that this has happened YET AGAIN, and that, if history is any guide, NOTHING WILL HAVE CHANGED.  there are those in this country who have a stubborn and irrational belief in the second amendment... that, or they are in the pocket of the nra.

let me just say that i have never owned a gun, nor feel any inclination to.  that doesn't mean that i don't believe in the right of others to bear arms, within reason.  for example, i appreciate a hunter's right to bear arms.  i also appreciate the need for certain people to carry concealed weapons for their own protection...  but when assault rifles are allowed on the streets?  tell me, why do civilians need weapons of war!?

there are those who doggedly support the right to bear ALL arms, including assault rifles (and note: the "DEFEND HAWAII" bumper stickers all depict some kind of assault rifle) because they believe in the "red dawn" scenario (perhaps they've seen the movie one too many times), OR because they believe in what i call "seditious patriotism," that is, that in certain situations, it is the right of the populace to bear arms AGAINST the government when that government does not respect their wishes...  (not sure if the founding fathers, in struggling to establish their newfound government, exactly intended that...)

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emilie...  just one of the 20 children...  a beautiful child, learning portuguese...  six years old.  children like her...  some of them were shot 10-11 times by an assault rifle (bushmaster).  tell me, TELL ME, you 2nd amendment advocates... explain to me, EXPLAIN TO HER FATHER why your right to have an assault rifle is more important than emilie!?

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i have promised that i will remain dogged on this issue, repost pictures of the slain, longer than the two week span of this country's collective memory.  i want to push this tragedy in the face of the world, over and over again, until the cost of our complacency with regards to guns shifts.  i will probably be tuned out.  no one likes to hear disturbing news for very long, after all.  but i don't want this to happen EVER AGAIN.  please, god, not again.

that child, those children...  how could we allow it to happen?  how could we not allow it to change us?

please.  don't bury this prematurely.  let it stand in our view, let it reveal to us the ugliness and irrationality of our policies.  let it change us somehow, whether through legislation, or through a shift in our consciousness...  please.