Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Newtown



In this land of 300 million guns,
logic is a defenseless child. 

I love my country, 
I hate its paranoia 

Where they trade on our apathy
to stockpile their crazy. 

The cost of their "freedom?” 
The lives of the innocents. 

A well regulated militia--
well, Obama is a socialist. 

“I hunt.” 
'Nuff said. (Hunters are such sacred cows?)  

Self-defense?  
Man up. Statistics say otherwise. 

Guns for teachers! Guns for everyone!
Are you fucking kidding me?

Ignore this futile exercise. 
Every word since Friday comes out like shrapnel. 

And still, we bleed. 

--

These links have offered me much insight, if little solace, in the days following the Newtown massacre: 

So You Think You Know the Second Amendment? 
Guns Have Never Saved Us





14 comments:

Richard Levangie said...

Amen, my friend.

Allow me to offer another link.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/01/the-geography-of-gun-deaths/69354/

Sarah Hina said...

That's a great link, Richard. Thanks for sharing it.

strugglingwriter said...

Thank you for this Sarah.

This thing has knocked me on my ass more than any event I've experienced in my adult life that didn't directly happen to me.

My worldview has been bumped askew in an instant.

Sarah Hina said...

Me too, Paul.

I can't stop thinking about it, and I've never been angrier.

We can't become complacent again. Yet I fear we will.

Catherine Vibert said...

I so agree with this. A shotgun that you have to shoot and reload, ok. Maybe, a little handgun to protect yourself, ok. I can buy that. A fucking assault weapon should not be possible to obtain. And teachers with guns? Excuse me? Remind me not to send children to the schools that go that route. It's weird living here in the South, I have neighbors that post on Facebook that they would welcome guns in the schools. Those same neighbors that have 22 dogs and chain most of them up. Yup. We live in a crazy fucked up world and I don't know what we can do to change it. Addressing mental illness with something other then a little pill would be a start. Taking assault weapons out of the hands of everyone, and especially those badly in need of help that helps would be another. Which would be everyone at this point. I just hope our president will have the guts to actually lead on this issue...

Catherine Vibert said...

PS, that is a great article Richard!

Catherine Vibert said...

And I just worked my way through your links Sarah. Very good. I really liked the New Yorker article. And by 'like' I mean grrrrrr....

Charles Gramlich said...

What a horrid tragedy for sure. Sickening.

Sarah Hina said...

Cat, it looks like Joe Biden's going to be leading the charge on gun control. Which, considering the NRA gave him an "F" rating in the Senate, is okay by me. I love Joe.

It's all infuriating. Which makes one want to ignore it. Which is just what the assholes want, of course. Which...

Grrr, indeed.


Charles, that it is.

Aniket Thakkar said...

There's a different battle going on in this part of the world: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/19/delhi-bus-gang-rape

It's one of those rare times, I wish she had a gun. I know that's not the solution though.

Sarah Hina said...

I can't bring myself to click on that link.

the walking man said...

I read this when you posted it Sarah but i jus didn't want to make any more angry posts about murder even though living where I do it is a common and easy enough subject to write about.

So I took a day or two off from writing and still am not done yet.

This is the 2nd piece of the day.


CEMETERY LANDFILLS
We fill landfills with garbage.
Cemeteries are landfills
and we still are not ready
to stop being wasteful.
God knows you need
another gun because
there is still room
in the landfill
for more garbage.

© M Durfee
12/20/12

Sarah Hina said...

Mark, I thought about you while writing this because I knew your perspective was up close and intimate, while mine had the privilege of distance and shock.

I don't know what more to say. I hang onto the anger and it eats me up. But it feels like a betrayal to go back to normal.

"Cemetery Landfills" reads like a scar. I'm glad you shared it here.

mkromd said...

Hi Sarah -

Thank you for visiting my karma ran over my dogma and leaving a comment for Heifer. More than that, Amen to your post. Enough.

May we all find some peace and perspective this holiday season.