If Only....

I'm sure there are blogging rules out there somewhere saying you should be consistent.  It seems as if I've been consistent....ly....bad...ok, horrible, at staying in front of my aging laptop on a regular basis typing stuff I think is hilarious or deep or inspirational to the masses.  I'm grateful for all the millions of followers who have stuck with me in spite of long blogular voids.  Ok...thousands of followers.  Ok, ok...141.  But 141 of the best, most faithful wonderful people I've ever paid to hit the 'like' button on the Facebook page to make it look like there are a few that enjoy a goofy read now and again.

 Seriously, though, life has been pretty crazy.  Getting married, getting kids into school and adjusted to a new home, followed all of the other adjustments that go along with all that...it's been nuts.  Things are leveling out so it should give me the opportunity to hit the keyboard a little more often.  I've missed it.  I've always said it's cathartic to me.  It helps me articulate some things that ping pong off the interior walls of my skull looking for a place to land.  So, for better or worse, here we go.

I want to get some things out of my brain concerning the latest school shooting.   These are my opinions. You can borrow any of them you want, you can trash any you want.  They're just my opinions.  I've done at least some research, and  I've been thinking about them for a while.  I'd like to think at least that they're informed opinions to a degree.  

  1. People, including me since I'm a people, speak from and defend (often extremely passionately) their preconceived ideas and biases
  2. People tend to choose the deaths about which they get all lathered up, while seeming to set aside others (DUI, armed robberies, suicides, domestic violence, abortions, opioid deaths, adinfinitum)
  3. Because you read it on the internet doesn't make it true
  4. Because the numbers are on a graph doesn't mean they're statistically correct
  5. Just because "X news outlet" said it, doesn't make it true 
  6. "News outlet" only implies news
  7. People lie.  All. The. Time. Ugh
  8. The AR in AR15 does not stand for 'assault rifle'
  9. An AR15 is not an assault rifle
  10. An AR15 is not an automatic weapon
  11. The NRA does not manufacture guns
  12. The NRA does not sell guns
  13. The NRA isn't even close to the top spenders of the lobbying groups...by far
  14. No NRA members have been shooters in mass shootings
  15. David Hogg isn't a crisis actor but it seems as if he's shamelessly using a tragedy to attempt to become a reporter (bias included)
  16. Media attention/focus seems to lend to a "you think that was bad? Hold my beer!" mentality
  17. I'm not blaming the media, or the NRA, or Democrats, or guns, or Republicans, or the police department, or video games, or parents, or movies, or teachers, or school administrators or anyone but Cruz for the murders (nor should anyone else in my opinion)
  18. Identity politics is killing our country
  19. Political polarization is killing our country
  20.  We need to learn to discern when we're (the average citizen) being taken for a ride

What is true:

1. 17 kids were murdered
2. The cause of those murders is in jail
3. The murderer needed/needs to know God - to really know God

If only there were someone who could help the universe know that the most important thing in said universe is love and could help the universe learn to love each other, putting the lives and interests of other people ahead of our own having the primary motivation of our actions be out of love.  Maybe that person could even show us how to love like that...even love US like that.  Perhaps events like these would decline, they'd become more a thing of the past….wouldn't that be cool?  Oh man…

If only…

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