So many things to worry about, now.
Ukraine
Fascist takeover in the U.S.
mass shootings
Things to deal with:
Citizens United
gerrymandering
Supreme Court dumpster fire
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We were not vigilant enough about our democracy. We let it slide, let it slide, accept stuff that we know isn't going to be good....
shootings.
They say background checks.
That's probably good, but it isn't going to catch people's stupid spoiled kids who want to have a murder-tantrum because they saw someone else do it. They don't have records. Someone pointed this out in internet comments, I had not thought of it.
No AR-15s or other weapons of war.
They're talking about raising age limit to purchase a gun from 18 to 21. Someone suggested 27 was a better age because people's brains are still forming up to age 25.
I like 27, I think.
Back when Columbine set the template for these horrors, I remember feeling so shocked by it and having the feeling of -- why were these young boys in so much pain or depression that they would do that?
And I felt sorry for their parents. I thought, "Oh they will never get over this, and they will feel terrible for the rest of their lives that they raised sons who did something so evil."
It seems like parents can do everything right and sons or daughters can make choices and do things where the parents feel like, "where in the hell did they get the idea to do that?" Parents can do things right, and kids can still be bad.
On the other hand -- after the one in Buffalo -- the supermarket -- the thought came to my mind -- 'What's the matter with the parents??! Jesus.'
I didn't mean to think that -- it just occurred. America is sick of shootings, it's stupid and wrong and we are essentially -- putting up with it. Tolerating it. We are all sick of this, and for the first time I had this strong impulse to blame the parents. (I've never felt like that before.)
But -- you know -- it said in one article, the parents bought the little shit a gun on his 16th birthday, and there was a photo (in the NYPost, I think -- leave it to them...) of the Gendron family: two parents, the 18-year-old murderer, and two younger brothers with faces blurred. Each family member holding a "gun."
They are in some kind of public space, standing on grass -- there are parked cars in the near background.
What were these idiots planning on shooting???!!!
I don't even know if the guns were real, or toys, nor do I care. This posing, preening, "Look! Guns!" It's demented.
They don't seem like hunting-type people. Just -- posers - ?
How could those parents not know their son, who was living at home, not in school, not working at a job -- how could they not know he was stockpiling guns, "silver" (? - whatever), and body armor?
How could they not know what he was up to, and playing at, and how did he get money for all that?
These people have a nice, beautiful house in upstate New York. Both parents have jobs as civil engineers for the state. Combined income of $183,000 a year. What's to complain of? What is their problem?
Do they teach their children right from wrong? Do they teach them ethics? Or do they just ignore any bad behavior and keep saying to the kid,
"Yoo-R-great - I LLLUUUVVVV YOOOOOO"...
Pardon the capital letters, but -- from societal observation I get the impression that this is what some parents do. They're tired, they both work, they want to be nice to their children.
And if the mother and father would have different ideas on how to help a troubled kid, then they would probably get into a pattern where they know if they bring up the subject between the two of them, there's going to be an argument...? So they don't bring it up...? Turn a blind eye and hope he grows out of it?
There was an episode of Sex and the City (the HBO series, not the movies) where Charlotte, Samantha, Carrie, and Miranda get a rented car and drive out of New York City to the suburbs to attend a baby shower for a woman who they used to party with but now she has settled down, married, and is having a baby.
Everyone else at the party, they're all mothers and chatting excitedly about how wonderful motherhood is and their children are so fabulous and wonderful -- our four main characters are a little bit shut out of all this bubbling happy-talk. -- (It's "happy" but also a little competitive...)
One brunette woman with a super-happy smile says intensely to Carrie and Miranda, "My son is a god and I tell him so every day!"
Miranda and Carrie look at each other like, 'How can we escape?'
When I notice children who seem like they have been exceedingly indulged but not taught anything, I think of that scene.
-30-
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