Fortifying Friday - Sad

I haven't forgotten about Frisky Friday.

I just haven't felt up to it for quite some time and my life has been very busy between work placement and traveling for martial arts.

The world is so reactive right now and it makes me sad.

People want to address problems by ignoring the root cause. Again. I don't know how many times they need to see the same thing happen before they realize their emotions are clouding their judgment on what actually works.

What I've been saying for days now is the same as what the experts, who have been working to make things better since Columbine, have been saying.

And I've seen it in action.

There was a kid in my school that made a hit list. Many of the people I know were on it. So many have forgotten this incident for some reason. Or maybe they're just ashamed for making him feel so bad he wanted to kill people. I wasn't on the list because I wasn't mean to him. It really wasn't hard not to be.

What happened with it?

When the list was discovered, the boy was immediately removed from our school and sent away to get help. Eventually, he finished his education in a different city. Instead of ignoring the issue, corrective action was taken immediately and everyone was kept safe. The boy grew into a man and never killed anyone.

Today, he's a relatively normal geeky guy.

This whole thing is killing me inside because I want everyone to have their rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness protected and so many want to take away rights to put things in place that have proven time and again not to solve the problems. How can you propose solutions that ignore so many of the facts?

Those of us that see beyond one element of this problem are treated as if we are heartless monsters for suggesting the tool is just a symptom. My heart hurts so much right now. I just want these people to stop falling through the cracks. I want everyone to live their lives fully and freely. I don't want to hear about more children dying because some kid had mental health issues, no father, no friends, etc.

It's not my country. I can't do anything about policy. All I can do is help people see the broader picture. When you give up a right, you don't get it back. Many gun laws are in place and the people hired to enforce them didn't do their jobs.

I'm just a woman who has noticed the pattern repeat time and again, so I can understand you may think little of my opinion on this matter. But how about the opinion of an expert who does this for a living, Clint Fiore?

Sorry for being a downer tonight.

And that's how life's river flows today.
R~