I'm a new paid subscriber to your Substack, so if this is a repeat comment, please excuse it! To me, it's not complicated. Republicans don't care. Period. Look at Congressman Ogles (the House member for the district in Nashville where the latest mass school shooting happened), who just for the 2022 holiday season posted a photo of himself and his family in front of their Christmas Tree, armed with assault rifles (if you want to find the image, it's very easy to do so, but I refuse to link to it). What says "Holiday Spirit" and "Peace, Love and Goodwill towards all" more than a bunch of people holding assault rifles??????
Again, to repeat, Republicans don't care (and yes, I know that I'm generalizing, but until/unless the national party demonstrates SOME will to stand against its NRA benefactor, I think that I'm well within my rights to do so). They profess to love the children and to want to protect them, but apparently that "love" doesn't extend to making sure that those kids come home from school alive, or at least without bullet holes. Their "solution", then, now and forevermore, is to offer trite, useless, meaningless "thoughts and prayers" and to then call for MORE guns. Because, the fact that this is the only so-called "advanced democracy" to have this type of carnage happen with mind-numbing regularity is just A-OK with them. It's vomit-inducing and infuriating.
Mar 31, 2023·edited Mar 31, 2023Liked by Dad and Buried
As a mother and educator, I too decided as much as this is close to home and in the wheelhouse of my newsletter, I couldn't. I didn't know what more to offer to people so committed to ideals and policies that do more harm than good. I was in my classroom when Sandy Hook happened. I was in my classroom when Sante Fe happened less than 20 miles from my school. I was in my classroom when Uvalde took 20 more lives. I've had my building go on lockdown due to threats in our neighborhood. I've received school emails from my daughter's middle school saying there WAS yet ANOTHER lockdown on her campus, but hey, it's all good now, no worries. After 20 years of love and laughter in the classroom, I can say with sadness I retired, so I wouldn't be in my classroom when the next tragedy took more young lives, as happened in Nashville AGAIN this week. My heart is too big and the response of society too slow, or perhaps, NOT FORTH COMING AT ALL!!
I appreciate you writing this, and I've appreciated every time you've used your platform like this. I remember you writing something about gun violence on the day my twins were born. That was almost eight years ago, and that really doesn't feel like the kind of thing I should remember about the day my children were born, but, you know, here we still are.
Thanks Brian. Yeah, in the post I include a few links to older pieces, and it's crazy to see how far back they go. I remember I wrote one while on vacation on Cape Cod, awake before everyone else in the morning, bitching about the NRA. Literally nothing has changed. Depressing as hell.
Seeing this kind of stuff happen now that I’ve become a dad hits way harder. I just don’t know how parents in America deal with this kind of thing happening on a semi-regular basis when they’re sending their kids to school.
I don’t know enough about the intricacies of American politics to dare to wade into the debate, but all I’d say is that there should be no parents ever worried that their kids won’t return home safely from school, anywhere in the world, let alone in a peaceful first world country.
I really hope for you all over there in the States that there comes a time when you don’t have to worry about this kind of thing happening ever again.
I agree, as a parent it's impossible to ignore. The sheer frequency also makes it harder, tbh. But that's exactly why I post this stuff from time to time. I have to say something, even if it falls on deaf ears or turns people off.
And I'll never understand how hard they work to justify guns, even in the face of CHILDREN being gunned down.
I'm a new paid subscriber to your Substack, so if this is a repeat comment, please excuse it! To me, it's not complicated. Republicans don't care. Period. Look at Congressman Ogles (the House member for the district in Nashville where the latest mass school shooting happened), who just for the 2022 holiday season posted a photo of himself and his family in front of their Christmas Tree, armed with assault rifles (if you want to find the image, it's very easy to do so, but I refuse to link to it). What says "Holiday Spirit" and "Peace, Love and Goodwill towards all" more than a bunch of people holding assault rifles??????
Again, to repeat, Republicans don't care (and yes, I know that I'm generalizing, but until/unless the national party demonstrates SOME will to stand against its NRA benefactor, I think that I'm well within my rights to do so). They profess to love the children and to want to protect them, but apparently that "love" doesn't extend to making sure that those kids come home from school alive, or at least without bullet holes. Their "solution", then, now and forevermore, is to offer trite, useless, meaningless "thoughts and prayers" and to then call for MORE guns. Because, the fact that this is the only so-called "advanced democracy" to have this type of carnage happen with mind-numbing regularity is just A-OK with them. It's vomit-inducing and infuriating.
As a mother and educator, I too decided as much as this is close to home and in the wheelhouse of my newsletter, I couldn't. I didn't know what more to offer to people so committed to ideals and policies that do more harm than good. I was in my classroom when Sandy Hook happened. I was in my classroom when Sante Fe happened less than 20 miles from my school. I was in my classroom when Uvalde took 20 more lives. I've had my building go on lockdown due to threats in our neighborhood. I've received school emails from my daughter's middle school saying there WAS yet ANOTHER lockdown on her campus, but hey, it's all good now, no worries. After 20 years of love and laughter in the classroom, I can say with sadness I retired, so I wouldn't be in my classroom when the next tragedy took more young lives, as happened in Nashville AGAIN this week. My heart is too big and the response of society too slow, or perhaps, NOT FORTH COMING AT ALL!!
I appreciate you writing this, and I've appreciated every time you've used your platform like this. I remember you writing something about gun violence on the day my twins were born. That was almost eight years ago, and that really doesn't feel like the kind of thing I should remember about the day my children were born, but, you know, here we still are.
Thanks Brian. Yeah, in the post I include a few links to older pieces, and it's crazy to see how far back they go. I remember I wrote one while on vacation on Cape Cod, awake before everyone else in the morning, bitching about the NRA. Literally nothing has changed. Depressing as hell.
Thank you so much for this. It was beautifully written.
Thank you! Wish I didn't have to write it.
Seeing this kind of stuff happen now that I’ve become a dad hits way harder. I just don’t know how parents in America deal with this kind of thing happening on a semi-regular basis when they’re sending their kids to school.
I don’t know enough about the intricacies of American politics to dare to wade into the debate, but all I’d say is that there should be no parents ever worried that their kids won’t return home safely from school, anywhere in the world, let alone in a peaceful first world country.
I really hope for you all over there in the States that there comes a time when you don’t have to worry about this kind of thing happening ever again.
I agree, as a parent it's impossible to ignore. The sheer frequency also makes it harder, tbh. But that's exactly why I post this stuff from time to time. I have to say something, even if it falls on deaf ears or turns people off.
And I'll never understand how hard they work to justify guns, even in the face of CHILDREN being gunned down.
Thanks for reading!