chilly Octobers of the soul

[gurdonark]

"The past speaks to us in a thousand voices, warning and comforting, animating and stirring to action. What its great thinkers have thought and written on the deepest problems of life, shall we not hear and enjoy? The future calls upon us to prepare its way. Dare we fail to answer its solemn summons?"

--Felix Adler, 1876

The late night cable news stations focused on the latest shooting in Virginia last night, another horrible misdeed in a month of misdeeds. I feel so badly for the families who have been brought grief by a media-hungry gunman, for lives lost needlessly, based on grim whimsy.

I cannot do anything about evening snipers in shopping malls and cheap steak place parking lots. But times like this make me want to focus on what I can do to make this life a little less grim.

Comments

and you do it so well

[kelquestor.livejournal.com]

In my opinion, your reaching out and sharing your thoughts and feelings with anyone who has an internet connection and is lucky enough to come across you, is an important and meaningful contribution. Not to mention the poetry I have yet to read, and the 50 000 word novel we all await with bated breath. : )

If more monies were spent on fostering international relations and less on armament, if treatises on negotiation were read with as much zeal as sensationalised accounts of violence, then maybe people would find they were able to adequately convey their grievances without having to resort to terrorist actions? Of course, people would have to listen and act upon what they heard, which happens surprisingly infrequently.

As individuals, we can't heal the pain of all the victims of terrorist actions, and we cannot wholly address the issues which provoke terrorism, but we can work at being open to others, and at communicating effectively. If we all do what we can as individuals, recognising that violence does not fix the problems of injustice against our fellow beings, then surely incidents of such violence will be less widespread?

[miscelenaclosed.livejournal.com]

Hearing the ongoing hoopla about one guy with a gun shooting strangers, I cannot help but also think of all the violently abused children and spouses killed by people they trusted, the innocent victims killed by drunk drivers, the children barely grown overdosing on drugs, etc: those common everyday murders that occur, sans media attention.

They've cancelled some homecoming football games and dances in the area... and while I think this is positively ridiculous, I also think it's likely will save lives. Not because the sniper may be stopped from shooting someone, but simply because teenagers might be less likely to be out partying and driving drunk.

Do you suppose it will balance out? Sniper deaths vs. prevented-traffic-deaths?

Life is indeed grim sometimes, sniper or no, and I like your thought that we should do what we can to make it less so. And I'm excited about the postcardx.net site... thanks for mentioning it!