The cost of unhooking

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.  ~Buddha


I've been totally incommunicado for nearly four days I've been checking email randomly, but not facebook at all--I think I've determined I can do without that little social evil--and I don't watch television at all, except for one or two shows we watch on the BBC iPlayer or Hulu. So...imagine my horror this AM when an artist and mom in the UK whom I follow sends out her newsletter and it's about the shootings in Sandy Hook. What shootings, I say...and where is Sandy Hook?
Language alert: read more here:

Many's the day I wish I could travel back in time and either derail the invention of guns or gunpowder or beat some sense into the founding fathers so the 2nd amendment would be clearer to idiots who think it means every Tom, Dick, and Asshole should be allowed an arsenal.

On one of the sites my husband follows he posted something to the effect that he'd never heard of a mass-stabbing. Someone came back some time later and said yes, there was a mass-stabbing in China...27 people were stabbed. But...no fatalities. My question is this? Okay, so you have a pistol for self-protection (still an idiotic idea, but I'll go along), and a rifle for deer-hunting, and a shotgun for duck and rabbit hunting.

What. The. Fuck. Do. You. Need. An. Assault. Rifle. For. ?????

Rampaging deer? Terrorist bunnies (leaving the Rabbit of Caerbannog completely out of it for the time being)? Dive-bombing budgies? I mean really, people. If you aren't in Afghanistan, wearing camo...you don't need an assault rifle.  Yeah, I know, the bad guys have them, you need one, too. No. You. Don't.  by the time you get the thing out (assuming you're not toting it around with you like some sort of demented Mass Effect character), you're dead anyway. So it comes down to one of two things, taking out the other drug lord's minions...or killing 20 small children and six adults at one go.

I think the thing that both scares me and amuses me at the same time are the idiots (and I'm being kind here) who think the President is going to take away their guns, so they're stockpiling them. Firearms sales skyrocketed during Mr. Obama's first administration, and it'll probably get worse. Because of course, "O_______" (insert any one of your favorite derogatory permutations of our president's name here) is a "...socialist, commie, faggot, alien Nazi Muslim who hates whites and rich folks...and gun toters, apparently.."

Did I get it all, all the crazy?

Good gods people. I think the one that is the funniest, in a sad, where has our educational system gone astray sort of way, is the Socialist Nazi. You don't know how many times I've read a comment where someone has called Mr. Obama both those things...in one breath...in one sentence. The depth of ignorance is staggering.

So, you ask, when do I get around to addressing the opening quote?  I think that quote is for me...but take what you will from it. I am saddened, horrified, and yes, angered by the events in Sandy Hook. Not angry at the shooter...he was a deluded young man who was as much a victim as his victims. I don't even necessarily blame his mother, who collected guns. (Now there's a hobby; forget Hummel figurines and stamps!) I'm angered at a society who raised an intelligent, sensitive kid to think that the way to banish your own demons is to kill others before you take yourself out. (PSA: if you want to kill yourself, just do it...don't take someone else with you).  A society that teaches it's okay to own weapons of death and destruction. A society that seems to think it's okay to make disgusting, disparaging comments about and death threats against our elected officials. A society that thinks it's okay to shove their religion down your throat (and in other orifices), or that it's okay to supplant religious myths with scientific fact in our schools. It's no wonder we raise confused, angry, deluded children.

Nonetheless, holding onto that anger will only burn me in the long-run. It doesn't help educate people or offer solace to the grieving. The sadness is a different story.