Crooked thinking need some straight talk

Crooked Thinking needs Straight Talk

“Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”   How many times are we going to be content with those words that do nothing to change the situation.  Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Once again there has been a school invasion that ended in the deaths of 17 students and educators.  Thoughts and prayers are wonderful but they do not repair the lives that have been devastated by the loss of children and family.  They do not recreate the lives that have been ended. 

Our country has had more mass shootings than any other country in the developed world.  What is wrong with our infatuation with guns and particularly assault weapons? How long will we relive the cowboy era?   The adults refuse to do the hard work of solving the problem.   Some of us keep retreating to the 2^nd amendment to our Constitution. Others are afraid of the NRA so they just duck and cover instead of standing for something besides crooked thinking. Yes we have the right to bear arms, don't we also have the right to go to school, attend a concert, or attend a house of worship without fear.   We have done a great deal to prevent terrorists from getting bombs.  How about domestic terrorists who because of mental illness or estrangement are just as dangerous when they get assault weapons.

Maybe, just maybe, a little child shall lead us and shame us.  The students from the school in Florida, scene of the latest invasion, have decided to take matters into their own hands.  As one student said, “we are tired of being collateral” in the gun wars.

The students are organizing.  They have talked about creating a badge of shame that they will award to any legislator who cannot stand up for safety.  The students hit the Sunday talk shows.  They are reaching out across the country to organize a march on March 24.   They are prepared to challenge Trump.  They are prepared to challenge all those adults in the legislatures across the country.   They are tired of the crooked thinking.

How do we as the adults, the people who are supposed to be the leadership, keep telling our children that invasion drills will protect them. The invasion drills are reminiscent of the duck and cover drills of the 50’s and 60’s when we thought hiding under our desks would save us from a nuclear attack.

We know perfectly well that the drills will scare some, leave some kids dead in the next invasion, and will fail to keep school a place where kids feel safe.   Yet we, as the adults, offer nothing else.  We offer prayer, kind thoughts but no guarantee of protection.

The kids are doing the straight talking.  Maybe, just maybe, some of the so-called leaders will be listening.