I've been thinking a lot about Texas today like everyone else. The question "Why?" echoes in my mind and it's hard to stop. Granted there is a lot I don't understand about the horror of this event. What sane person could? But one thing I do know for sure, it doesn't have anything to do with gun control and the second amendment. What I do believe is that we are infected with a societal sickness and divisions that are destroying our country in a way that effects all our relationships and interactions profoundly. Politicizing the deaths of children won't do anything except make our social sickness worse.
Did you know that between 1903 and 1981 there were 128 school related incidents in our country? That's 77 years. Some resulted in deaths, others did not. Between 1981 and 1993, a mere 12 years, there were 77 school related incidents. There were 72 during Clinton's administration alone. It dropped to 56 under Bush II. Over 8 years there were 127 under Obama, Trump had 118 in four years. And now, in less than 2 years, Biden's administration has recorded 50. At that rate, at the end of this term he will have exceeded Trump.
I don't blame guns. I don't blame presidents. I blame the sickness that is swamping our country and it all happened without regard to political party.
Anger and blaming does nothing except muddle our thinking and I would say that to anyone no matter what their political beliefs.
Why do I happen to know all of the above? I know these facts because I became interested in the problem. You can't be part of a solution and gain understand until you have knowledge. Each incident stands by itself and the eruption of its putrid stench makes us ill. But we can't really know how bad it is until we step back and look at the big picture. When we see it in the frame of 122 years, THEN we know how bad our condition really is.
