Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Put this in your juicebox...

First of all, I don't know about you guys, but I can't read the stories about Connecticut for more than about five seconds without tearing up. To think of those twenty (20!) young children...I just can't. It's just unfair. And that's all I can really say about it.

But, since America needs answers, they'll argue until they come to an "agreement". I say "agreement" because in my mind, there's NO ANSWER for preventing what happened to stop happening. Everyone has their point of view.

First shooting I remember is Columbine. Teens shooting their peers. And building crappy bombs.

Then, other shootings pop up.

The movie theater shooting in Colorado. During The Dark Knight Rises no less, a movie which I had high interest in seeing, but still haven't managed to. That shooting is in the back of my mind every time I think about watching it.

Then a mall shooting? Ridiculous.

Then an elementary school. Where are we safe, really?

In my opinion, guns are just the easy way out. Did the masterminds between 9/11 use guns? Nope...box cutters. And planes. And buildings. Guns are just the easy way out. But that's just my opinion.

It's too easy for me to blame guns. That's not the answer. I was raised in Texas, around a step-father who had guns from the time I very first knew him. I've never shot a single living thing. I've never had the desire to. Even in my darkest times, I've never wanted to harm anyone, unless you count throwing a sock at an ex boyfriend. And you know what? Even that was just a scenario in my head. I walked away. I cooled off. I came up with a plan b.

If anything, I'm leaning more toward mental illness, and bringing awareness to everyone.
I've posted earlier about the battle between the good and evil inside everyone.
Doesn't it make sense that these monsters let their evil win? That they fed their evil until it broke them and led to these tragedies?

One of my favorite writers is Jenny Lawson.
She has the ability to cheer me up even on my shittiest of days.
She suffers from mental illness. She has brought so much good to this issue though, and she has brightened more lives than just mine with her honesty about herself. Through her, and because of her, people have sought out to get the help they need.

It's not always enough.
Jenny's latest blog post describes a personal tragedy, a close friend of her family taking his own life. She describes how he attempted to go get help for himself, but it was denied.
She tells about how even when she found a doctor that could help her, the doctor wouldn't take her insurance, so Jenny pays thousands of dollars out of pocket to keep herself sane.

It shouldn't come to thousands of dollars.

20 children lost their life. Babies. That's not okay.

All I'm saying is...be aware.
Be aware of those around you. Be aware of yourself.

And read Jenny. She could brighten your day too.