Anymore

As it sit at my computer in the motorhome I can see the casino flags at half staff in memory of the dead at the Washington DC Navy Yard.  It seems like flags are in that position a lot anymore.  It makes me wonder what is wrong with our civilization where gunmen (yes they are always men) take it upon themselves to kill innocent people.  We are not safe anywhere - not in our schools, places of work, places of entertainment, anywhere.  I retired from working in the principals office of a high school, it seemed like a safe place until Columbine came along and we scrambled to make new policies to protect the students.  I would not call the principals office a safe place anymore.  My husband retired from a public job where he occasionally had to fire someone, what are the chances anymore that that person would come back with a gun.  Safety is truly something to think about.

If a man wants to do away with himself why does he feel he has to take as many as possible other people with him, is it the "blaze of glory" effect.  People say we need to identify these people before they act.  OK, then what do we do with them?  Lock them up somewhere?  No not in the USA where we have more laws protecting the criminals (or potential criminals) than we have protecting the victims (or potential victims).  We would have to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that these men were going to kill.  Mental health is not an exact science so proof would be impossible.

We were in line at a cash register the other day, a man in front of us was buying two boxes of bullets.  First I noticed the bullets and then I looked at the man.  He seemed to be anxious/nervous and he had shifty eyes.  I'm thinking about how I can take a picture of him on my cell phone and turn it over to the police.  Then I thought "what would the police do, probably laugh at me".  Who do you report, who do you not report.  I am far from a trained professional and yet we are told to report strange activity.

When will this stop?  Until it does, if ever, we need to hug our kids once more and tell our loved ones that we love them.  We never know if we will see them alive again.