Newtown/NewDialogue

First off, am back after a week off. Had to meet a couple of school deadlines.

I was prepping to write something about the holidays. But that all changed Friday morning.

I'm currently living something like a Jekyll and and Hyde existence. I was doing fine this morning until I got out of my car to enter my local supermarket and saw a kiddie play horse at the entrance and I suddenly felt paralyzed. Once again, my mental firewalls were breached. And, like an idiot, I bought USA Today, apparently looking to inflict further punishment on myself. That has to be because I want to understand something that's incomprehensible. I think USA Today is actually a terrific paper, but they didn't help me.
My girlfriend suggests I lay off this stuff. She's as heartbroken as I am. We went to a candlelight vigil at her school. She's a teacher too, plus she has two sons in their 20's, so this has a triple impact on her. Yet, she carries on. Even with her school having gone into lockdown earlier today. Even with extra meetings and drills. Maybe I can find ways to do the same. Is that what they're doing in Newtown? Are the parents carrying on? They will, eventually, I suppose. But right now, I cannot imagine how they can get through the day.
I've been asking myself what I can do. In truth, everything we do doesn't seem like enough. The real work is the longer term project of preventing this from ever happening again. Here's what my experience has taught me:
1: I have many friends who are gun owners. Every one of them owns guns for as many as 3 purposes: Protection, sport, investment. Every one of them are people who I'd trust with my life. They get very agitated when they hear about misguided legislation. We need to convince them that their 2nd amendment rights will not be affected. This can be done.
2: We need to, in its most basic form, separate the good guys for the bad (or potentially bad) guys. That means people who are at risk. That means, among other sub-groups, people with mental illnesses. Can anyone justify someone with a mental illness (involving a tendency toward violence. Most mental illnesses have nothing to do with violence) having the means to carry it out? Is this part of their rights as Americans? How we do that would take up too much space here, nor do I know the exact path. But we have to try.
3: This also means meaningful legislation addressing the issue of assault weapons. It's widely agreed that the assault ban passed under Clinton and expiring in 2004 was ineffective. So we need to readdress it. It means looking at how criminals got around the loopholes and fixing them. But not, for a minute, think that this is enough.  The government is a huge, lumbersome behemoth that rarely accomplishes what it sets out to do.
4: Most of all, we need to understand and to stop thinking we know exactly what to do. I sure don't. We're no better than the government at thinking up solutions to this problem. I don't understand why Nancy Lanza had an assault weapon, if all she did was keep guns around the house as an ordinary citizen. I don't understand why she'd do so knowing she has a son with a mental illness that might lead to violence. I don't understand the nuances of guns and their uses. I've never owned one. I want no part of living in a society where everyone is armed to the teeth and saying the wrong words might get my brains blown out.

Believe what you will, but the next victim, tomorrow, could be someone you love. Want that on your conscience? No? Then get off your ass and start thinking seriously about this problem.
1: Don't assume you've got all the answers. Pay attention. I'm no Bible thumper, but I completely relate to the ongoing passages about arrogance versus humility. Arrogance is often manifested as thinking you know all the answers. You don't. I don't. We don't until we...
2: Get to know the mindset of those who don't share your point of view.
3: See those with mental illnesses not as "nut jobs" (a phrase I've seen repeatedly in the last few days) but as people who have an illness that's not their fault. 
4: Comfort those who have to care for those with mental illnesses. They need your support and understanding.
5: Write your representatives with your thoughts. Start with www.senate.gov and www.house.gov. The sites are very easy to use for contacting your reps in DC. Our system of democracy is dominated by those with money. Your emails are the Rx for that. And yes, the reps DO listen.

This is test of our nation. I hope we pass.