NOW or NEVER

The President spoke tonight from a Healing Inter-Faith service in Newtown CT. He avoided talking politics, specifically Gun Control which I believed he would not do on such an occasion but still I am grateful he didn't go there. This is not the time nor the place. He did say, however that this kind of violence against the innocent is now happening with a regularity this is nothing short of frightening and we are in danger, by standing by and doing nothing to change it, of passively accepting this horror by default. I could not agree with him more...this cannot go on, we must find a way to stop it and at least begin to change a major flaw in our society. 

There is obviously something terribly wrong with a society that individuals are driven to commit such heinous acts to their fellow human beings. We are not taking care of one another.

I believe mental illness has become our Country's and perhaps the worlds "Dirty Little Secret". Here in America we just pretend not to see the mental illness in people and somehow that must mean that it doesn't exist.

Why am I talking about mental illness here instead of stricter gun control laws? Because I believe with my whole heart that the root cause of these acts of madness is Mental Illness. As far as I know, just about every-one involved in one of these Mass Murder Shootings from Columbine to Virginia Tech to Tuscon, AZ to Aurora, CO to New Town, CT had either been treated for or was suspected of Mental Illness. Or they were so bullied, out-cast and alienated by society to be driven to the very brink of it. 

People are not just wired to go and brutally Kill others, for no real reason...just like that. There is a cause for this...it must be found and we must fight it and stop it right now. Perhaps Mental Illness is just one aspect of it and it really is a complex mess that needs to be unwound piece by piece to find a true  "Root Cause". Even if this is so...we must start the process now, to stop it.

I believe we have done nothing of value to put an end to the horrifying regularity in which this has begun to happen. We are shocked, we mourn, there is some gun control talk generated and the NRA gets itself all wound up in knots and everyone talks about their 2nd Amendments Rights...But then...nothing ever happens...except someone eventually will go on another RAMPAGE of Mass MURDER...this time apparently targeting CHILDREN! My GOD why?!

That is what I would like to know...why it is happening...then perhaps we can change it, prevent it, perhaps even STOP IT FOREVER.

As you may gather, I do not believe this is solely a Gun Issue...actually I don't think it really is gun related at all as far as what is the root cause of these mass killings. If you solve the reason why these individuals want to KILL...guns, just like knives or poison or hand grenades or machetes or steak knives are in animate objects that cannot do a thing on there own...they are harmless.

I am not saying that the solution for this problem may not include some further restrictions in gun purchases...particularly by those who are mentally ill. How do we do that and protect citizens 2nd Amendment Rights? I do not know...I have never said that this would be easy. 

All I am saying however is that doing NOTHING to change this sickening trend of accepting mass murder as inevitable is morally WRONG. We must stop  this and my suggestion would be to start looking at how we are treating those in our society struggling with Mental Health Issues. As I have already stated..it is a fact that some of these individuals, like the V-Tech Killer Seung-Hui Cho was known to struggle with mental illness yet he slipped through the cracks when he easily could have been locked away for treatment.

I realize that once again, this is complex...I don't see us ever going back to State Run Mental Institutions but the fact is when the last of those units closed down, tens of thousands of mentally ill people were forced into society no matter what their condition. I contend that we are still reaping what we have sown by that decision to eliminate the institutions with-out having ,

I know this is a lot to process and this recent horror it is still a raw, open wound but we must do something, it is NOW or NEVER.