Tragedy on TV
A few days ago, there was an awful shooting spree in a theater during the latest Batman movie.
Aurora, Co. joined a list that includes Columbine, Virginia Tech , Edmund, OK among others as places that would be linked by unspeakable tragedy.
I bet some of you are wondering, Edmund? What happened there? Back in the early ’80’s, a disgruntled postal worker entered the Edmund Post Office and killed 14 people, wounding several others. I bring it up just to emphasize how little progress we have made when it comes to figuring out how to stop these horrific events,
Ban assault weapons.
Toughen the standards for acquiring weapons.
Let everybody have a gun.
Better mental health screening.
Prayer.
Voting Republican.
Voting Democrat.
Reducing violence in movies and television.
Have a bi-partisan commission to study violence in the workplace.
Did I miss any? Oh, and can we fill hour after hour with “expert” opinion about the shooter? How he looks. What music he listened to.
The same crap with the same experts. All looking very somber. Spewing their nonsense.
Bad things happen in this world. There are no easy answers. Actually, I don’t think there are any answers except some people are just flat-out evil.
My heart goes out to the families who have to find their way through the grieving process with the barrage of cameras wanting an interview. Maybe the networks looking for a story in between psychiatrists and profilers.
After Edmond and a subsequent shooting in a Royal Oak, Mi post office, all Postal Service employees had mandatory group counseling. We spent 3 or 4 hours talking with experts who would ask a question, listen to our responses, repeat back what we had just said, on and on, until at the end when they had to admit there were no answers to preventing a future shooting. By providing the sessions, they could say something had been done for the employees.
No answers.
Just broken families.
I am going finish this by mentioning the people in that theater who had just a split second to throw themselves on the person next to them, sacrificing their own lives.
Those people showed what a hero does when it counts the most.
When I happen across any of the endless coverage of the gunman and his long slog to justice, as I change the channel, I am going to remember the heroes.
Peace.
Bellbottom Blog 
It’s fascinating to me that we know all about the villian and here just a passing story here or there about the victims. We are a messed up species. We reward bad behavior. We make celebs out of people who should be shunned. I’m ready to reverse that trend. I’m with you; next time I see that ridiculous orange hair on my television screen, I’m changing the channel. I want ro see more heroes, less criminals.
There needs to be more shunning. This is true.