What's Wrong With This World?

Following is an email exchange I had with a neighbor the day after the Sikh temple tragedy in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. I share it here because she and I both know that, even though we have never gotten into debates, we have different views on various issues: 

MY NEIGHBOR:

The stress of yesterday's attacks at the temple is just so awful.  It's 
amazing 
> how something like this touches a community. We were at a soccer game 
yesterday 
> when my friend's husband was called away (he's a Franklin detective).  Then 
> another mom received a message that her husband, a Milwaukee cop, was being 
sent 
> over there.  I know a member of the Sikh community also and still don't know 
if 
> he was there or worse, one of the casualties.  (My daughter) is friends with a young 
gal 
> who was there and posted it on Facebook.  Some friends of ours lives a block 
> from the killer's home and were evacuated last night. It's all just so 
extremely 
> sad. And to have something like this happen in our quiet community. What is 
> wrong with our world??  I'll be anxious to hear if they have any updates at 
> 10:00.

ME:

e --
Yes, once again a mass shooting invades a quiet Wisconsin community. Wasn't it 
Brookfield where some guy killed several people in church a few years ago? If I 
recall, people there just like in Aurora, Colorado, said the same thing -- how 
can something like this happen in a quiet little place like this?
> 
> 
> What's wrong with this world, you ask?
> 
> 
> You probably didn't expect me to answer, but here's what I think:
> 
> 
> There's a lot wrong, particularly in the U.S.
> 
> 
> 1) Violence is glorified. It permeates everything -- music, movies, television 
shows, video games, sports, domestic and foreign relations, political views. 
Violence is, and is promoted to be, the "court of first resort" in this country.
> 
> 
> 2) Intolerance has become an American value. Socially, culturally, 
religiously, politically and in just about every other way. If you don't like 
the way a person looks, acts, believes, etc., we've been desensitized into 
thinking that "taking 'em out" is the American way.
> 
> 
> 3) "Self" reigns supreme. Americans have become so egocentric that the only 
thing of value is what benefits "me."  "Sense of community' is becoming a ghost 
town. The individual "I's" don't want to take care of anyone else -- especially 
if it might cost "me" any money.
> 
> 
> 4) We turn young people into killing machines, send them into very real 
psychologically distorting guts-oozing and blood-spurting, shoot-first-don't-worry-about-questions-or-consequences 
combat situations then expect them to march back into the normalcy of quiet 
little towns and suburbs to be loving family members and healthy productive 
citizens.
> 
> 
> 5) Gun worship and the obscene promotion of only one half of the 2nd Amendment 
to the U.S. Constitution -- "...the right to bear arms..." -- and pretending the 
other half -- "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a 
free State ..." doesn't exist. And being in denial of the context and times in 
which those words were written.
> 
> 
> 6) The fantastic success those with agendas, such as the very profitable 
financial gain from gun sales, have had promoting the ridiculous notion that 
"guns don't kill people, people do" when the evidence is so stark. Here are 
handgun death stats for last year alone:
>  Great Britain - 8
>  Sweden - 21
>       Switzerland - 34
>  Germany - 42
>  Japan - 48
>  Canada - 52
>  Israel - 58
>       United States - 10,728
> 
> 
> Well, if it's people who kill people and not guns, those stats don't speak 
very well for people in the U.S., do they, especially given that many other 
countries, such as Sweden and Canada have rather liberal gun laws. Yet guns per 
capita in the U.S. is off the scale compared to other countries -- about 90 per 
100 residents. (I'm not for banning gun ownership in this country, but am for 
some sanity regarding sales.) 
> 
> 
> That said, there's an awful lot good about our world, too. 
> 
> 
> Your observation about the way yesterday's tragedy touches a community gives 
me hope that it might be possible to snatch 'sense of community' back from the 
spectre of ghost town. While we in our own little neighborhood hold different 
views on various issues, I have been and continue to be thankful that we have 
put our sense of community above such differences. For everyone to respect the 
fact that 'I think I am as right as I know they think they are' is societal 
glue, so far as I'm concerned. 
> 
> 
> I hope you'll accept this cathartic rant for what it iS. I too am 
grieving for the victims of yesterday's shooting, as well as for those of the 
many previous ones and for those, no doubt, to come. Thank you for your 
shoulder.

>   
MY NEIGHBOR:
Amen.  You said it all too well.  Those are some of the very things 
I've been thinking since yesterday and you phrased it all perfectly.  I know, 
too, that people who do this have to have a missing piece to their psyche -- no 
one of a sane mind could do this type of thing.  But, yes, adding 
righteousness/intolerance to someone's insanity is a dangerous mix along with 
putting a gun in their hands. I'm not for banning guns but I do believe we need 
to find a better way of reviewing a person's character and background before 
allowing them access.  Sure, guns will still be available on the black market 
regardless of laws but maybe things like this might be less.  I think the thing 
that struck me the most with both Aurora and this is that they attack people in 
the most common of places - places where we typically feel secure.  That 
certainly qualifies for terrorism.  And what's hard for me to deal with is what 
this does to our sense of security.  It shakes us to the core because we realize 
we aren't safe anywhere.  I'm saddened also for our children - that this has 
become so common in recent years and it has messed with their sense of security 
as well.  It sickens me.  

I also appreciate your evaluation of our neighborhood.  I know we have different 
feelings about various issues, but we care about and love each other regardless.  
That's what our world should be all about.  
 
Thanks for your email.  It was perfect.


ME:

Thank you.. I am hopeful that if enough people who feel the way you and I do about responsible review of a would-be gun buyer's background, etc., made our views know to lawmakers, there might be a chance for change.
Take care and have a great week.

(ONE THING I DIDN'T INCLUDE IN MY LIST OF WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS WORLD IS THE ASTRONOMICAL RISE IN THE NUMBER OF WHITE HATE GROUPS (I CAN'T CALL THEM SUPREMACISTS. THERE IS NOTHING SUPREME ABOUT THEM) SINCE PRESIDENT OBAMA WAS ELECTED.