Regaining normal - sort of.

My thoughts are still with those families.  Throughout the day I would see something on Facebook, hear something on the radio, or just look at Mozart and be reminded of all those innocent lives lost.  Tears would well, I would kiss my boy or say a silent blessing for his safety and prayer for those families and try desperately to get back to normal.

Since I've been sick, I really haven't done any cooking more complicated than opening a can of chicken soup.  Tonight I decided that was going to have to change. And when I'm feeling the need for comfort, I feel like pasta.  And bacon.  So I hauled Mozart off to the store and got the fixings for Chicken Gorganzola Carbonara with Bacon.  I have tried to turn the Boy onto bacon before.  Once, when we were in Oregon, I ordered him a lovely breakfast complete with bacon.  He wanted nothing to do with it.  Turned his nose up. Well, let me tell you how things have changed.  He still can't say the word - for some reason it comes out "mec" (I have no idea), but that's about all he wanted tonight. Since the Wife wouldn't have any, he got hers.  And some of mine.  Yes.  Life is good with bacon.

But then I clean up from dinner and open Facebook and it all comes rushing back.  I still haven't been able to put many words to my feelings, but the following are some of the things that struck me from my feed. 

It seems so overindulgent to post something like this right now when there are so many people hurting but I'm really concerned that in our need to have easy answers and understand "why" for everything, that mental health is becoming the cop out to a complicated situation. I think its wonderful that mental health is getting attention considering its a problem that is SO important and isn't often talked about. But there are other hard to face things we need to look at, our love of violence, and exposure to it in many cases since childhood, our lack of empathy, our easy access to guns, our self entitlement and anger. We not only have mass shootings that rightfully so get attention, on a daily basis our friends and loved ones are killed by gun violence, or all to often simply by accident. In my daily life i come across so much random anger, the idea of more people with more guns terrifies me. Yes its the people and not the "guns" and that's the scariest part. ~ I.M.

I'm frustrated at our utterly broken mental health system. None of these mass shooters have been "right in the head".....but how the f*** do these folks get access to guns, anyway? I might be opening a can of worms here, but I DO believe that making gun ownership a little harder to achieve would weed out some of the mentally ill from accessing firearms. Yes, I think that while some would complain about "rights", but I'm seeing these news reports about a CLEARLY mentally ill person who killed himself, his mother, 20 schoolchildren, and 6 other adults.

Some people say that they are glad that the shooter killed himself. Others say they wish the young man had received "discipline" in the jail system. I wish none of this had ever happened at all, and that the mental health system, plus restricting this man's ability to access firearms, had been successful in preventing this tragedy. Please do remember that although the shooter killed his mother, he has a grieving father and brother, too. 27, not 26, people died yesterday. I know people are sad and angry, and so am I. But this did not have to happen at all.   ~ M.C.

Worst potential outcome of existing gun laws: mentally ill people get their hands on combat weapons and kill innocent people.

Worst potential outcome of hoped-for gay laws: happy adults get families.

And yet who has their rights ardently protected by every lawmaker in the land?

I'm sorry, I can't hear your complaints about your super-fun assault weapons being potentially taken away through the LOUD VIOLINS PLAYING IN MY HEAD. ~ C.M.

I believe, and have to believe in order to continue living on this world, that we all have the capacity to spread peace and love. I also believe it's our responsibility as members of the earth to approach each day with open hearts and hope and ask " How can I be Love today?" and then act. I believe each small act has the potential to lead to a bigger, wholer goodness and I also believe when tragedy hits, activating this conscious love for others is one way to heal.  ~ E.T.

To Anyone saying that 20 children died because god isn't allowed in schools should be completely ashamed of themselves. How dare you say such an ignorant and callous statement. Shame On You. ~ S.B.F.

From the still, peaceful place in your heart, send loving thoughts, prayers to the good people of Newtown and all who are touched by this tragedy. Reach out in kindness to those who appear lost, distressed, alone. Support better care for those with mental illness. Lobby against violence in entertainment and to close loopholes in gun control laws. Continue to be compassionate. ~ C.S.

I am so very afraid that all the attention, the endless media coverage, the chatter is planting the seeds for next time. ~ M.B.T.

Seeing people in multiple continents and countries on my FB, and all are united, a world community, grieving for our neighboring state of CT and the atrocities that occurred there today. So close to home for us MA teachers. ~ T.M.T.

I don't want to turn on the tv. I don't want to turn on the laptop. I just want to go get my child and stay in the house for days. My mind won't stop thinking of all the pain and devastation so many are feeling right now. Worst week ever. ~ E.P.T.

Why did it take us so long to become horrified by violence? Children and young adults have been getting murdered left and right in this country for years. Having had a brother murdered (who was a young adult) I am no stranger to violence. The violence has always been here, we ignored it when it wasn't us- but as it has seeped into whoever us is, movie theaters, schools, colleges we started paying attention. We are not immune, but it was easy to say those things don't happen here. Well guess what they do. They have been. I heard on the news someone saying, "this was a good school, those things don't happen here" well they shouldn't happen anywhere to any child or person. And the reality is that many of our kids continue to die, they won't be remembered bc they did not die in a "mass shooting" but they did die in mass violence. ~ M.L.

There is absolutely no reason that a private citizen should be able to buy a weapon with the capacity to fire a hundred rounds in the span of a minute.

Such a weapon is not simply for protecting yourself, and it's not for shooting your dinner. I'm sympathetic to gun rights based on the number of legitimate, game-eating hunters I know, but sorry, the authors of the Bill of Rights did NOT envision semi-automatics and our laws should not protect their purchase. ~ C.M. 

 There were many more things that people said that were both thought-provoking and quote-worthy.  Some anger me, some make me fearful, some give me hope, some make me cry.  I'm trying to focus on those that give me hope.  But at the same time not forget the others, for that is where change will come from.