I wrote the following almost 15 years ago to the day, September of 1999. I believe it's well worth throwing it out one more time. While there's an inherent temptation to clean up some of the anger in my words from fifteen years ago, I'll resist that temptation because my anger is as palpable today over the failure of appropriate weapon legislation as it was a decade and a half ago. That all said, if I were to write it today, I'd be a bit more clear but still let the anger show through.
This is the hardest topic to address to date. Hard because most of you won't, can't or simply refuse to understand what I have to say no matter how simple the wording is. The intent is far too horrific to admit to, disturbing our sensibilities and shattering our belief systems if we were to do so.
Give to this evil any name you please, but be assured it walks among us in the form of murder and mayhem. It arrives silently and warps its self around one's fiber with out realization.
Afflicting men, women and children, few realize escape and they are bound by a silence the rest of us enforce through the use of ridicule.
Too easy we ascribe the violent actions at Columbine and now in a Texas Church as the work of unstable people. Too easy we accept moral and legal lapses on the part of our Government and politicians. Waco and the entire Clinton Presidency allows ample evidence of this. There exists no accountability nor burden of responsibility.
Are these people evil, and where is the evidence?
The evidence is clear!
Point one, the killing of innocent people will continue. More of our children will die!
Point two, our Government is helpless to stop it, and
Point three, you are too.
Stop and think of these three points. Do you seriously believe this is a passing fad?
That in a couple of years it'll all pass?
It will get worse.
Because we will allow it to happen again. Because you are too busy to demand accountability for inaction. Because you're more concerned with meeting your mortgage, more concerned with your child's athletic achievements than academic life, much less the spiritual aspect. You really don't give a shit what happens in Washington as long as you have two damn cars in the garage. Because you're too damned caught up in your own problems to get off your ass and do something about them. Rich, middle class or poor, the truth is your concern lies with your own personal agenda and it's to hell with everyone else.
Gimme a break, I don't wanna hear how ya volunteer, go to church, attend the PTA, set on civic boards and serve your community for the simple facts those are your agendas. All they allow for is the growth of your ego and I take issue with that.
I take issue with it as it is the rare person who is able to transcend their personal agenda and do what serves the community as a whole. It is that person who stands alone on the front line of the war with evil.
And it is an evil that is very real! One that we have given birth to because we refuse to call the police when our neighbors are beating their wives, when we refuse to do what is right.
God has not allowed this, we have! And the bottom line is, is that if you give credence to the existence of God or the goodness Humanity, then too you must give that same credence to evil and to the fight which must be attendant.
And if you fall silent long enough, close your eyes and listen with your heart, you can feel the dark storm approaching.
Enjoy your nights sleep!