Well.. the other day it occurred to me that I haven't blogged in a while. Upon realizing that, I decided that I just wouldn't blog for the entire duration of July. Take a break, relax like a cat, and return to blogging goodness in August.
Then I actually went to my website and realized I already had two posts for the month of July. Because I have fake OCD, I decided that I can't do two and then break the rest of the month. So here I am. Writing a post.
But specifically, I'm here because I'm angry, and sad, and I want to write. I don't know if you read the news and stay up to date on these things, maybe you do maybe you don't. That doesn't matter. What matters is Batman. I'm serious. Last night, Dark Knight Rises premiered across America, and millions of people went to the midnight screening to be amongst the first in the nation to watch the epic finale. It was a hugely anticipated event, with tons of people looking forward to seeing the action packed film. Everything should have been pure, worry free entertainment.
Unfortunately, life is not worry free.
Last night in Aurora, Colorado, a gunman burst through the exit doors of a crowded theatre filled with an eager Dark Knight audience. He ignited tear gas and smoke bombs, and then proceeded to open fire upon everyone in the auditorium.
The worst part was that people were unaware of what was happening until it was too late. The man cut in during a scene with explosions and gunfire, so people didn't even realize the movie was coming to life until they were surrounded by the blood of the people sitting around them.
Twelve people died. 58 more were wounded. All were innocent movie goers, out with friends, family, and people they loved to watch a movie.
To watch a movie. The scariest thing about this to me is how usual the act of going to a movie is. I go to movies all the time! I went to a movie just last week! And never once did it occur to me that sitting in that dark room could be the last thing I ever did.
Certainly none of these people who died were thinking about that.
What is more horrifying is that single handedly, this man has cast an ominous shadow over going to the movies. This man is making us challenge our views on what is safe, and what we should worry about. This man is making people consider their own premature mortality. And the fact that all survivors must now live with that truth is even more brutal and monstrous than perhaps the massacre itself.
In an ideal world, no one should have to consider the fact that they will die on their way to school or the grocery store. In public spaces, the thought of danger or injury should be completely removed.
Of course, I realize that this is not an ideal world. People die, kids bring guns to school and blow up innocent civilians, and these things can't be helped. There is only so much we can prevent, and at some point we just have to accept that tragic, bloody horrible things happen and that's just how life works. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be shocked and outraged when these things do occur.
It all comes down to a lot of problems. On the one hand, humans are intricate, twisted creatures and no one can ever be certain what will make us tick. This gunman had no criminal record and was top of his neurological science classes. He was incredibly bright. So why he decided to dress up in full protective gear armed with tear gas and various assault weapons in order to take the lives of innocent people only to give himself up to the police, we may never know.
On the other hand, gun control laws could be changed. I think it's to be expected that now this has happened, people will be clamoring for metal detectors and security checks to be installed at every theatre. But that's not the root of the problem. This incident could have happened at any location, any time. Why it happened during a Batman movie, only the criminal can say. But none of this would have happened if this man had not had access to a gun.
I don't directly blame the people who sold him the gun. When he purchased his weapons, all the proper background checks were completed. Like I said, this guy was clean. Nothing on his slate other than a minor speeding ticket. No one could have known that he would abuse his responsibility. However, the fact remains that if he hadn't've had a gun he couldn't've killed people quite as quickly or as easily.
It's said that guns don't kill people, people kill people. But that doesn't change the fact that if I'm angry enough to kill someone and I have a gun, BANG. You're dead. If I'm angry enough to kill someone and I don't have a gun, it would take much more time for me to kill you. Which is why I strongly support the philosophy of restricting the accessibility and acceptance of firearms.
Although this kind of comes back to what I said earlier about not being able to prevent everything. There is only so much we can reasonably do, and we have to accept that there was no reason to suspect this man of being unworthy of possessing a gun. No one could have seen it coming.
So this leaves the last big problem. That being how our society regards violence.
Our society is majorly desensitized to violence, and I will be the first to admit that bloody movies don't faze me nearly as much as they probably should. It's a truth that we can't hide from, but it's also a horribly depressing truth. When six year old boys are blowing people up on Xbox and PG-13 movies now have more violence than ever before, it's plain to see that our society is not as averse to killing sprees as perhaps we should be.
Science and psychology has proven that when violence is seen from the eyes of a young child, it becomes ingrained in their heads, sometimes their very being and can lead to dire consequences. Children are bundles of malleable brain mass and undeveloped cognitive reckoning, so quite literally what they see, they do. Because they are new to the world, everything they see before them they adhere to. At least until they are old enough to make decisions about the world for themselves. However, it's tough to teach an old dog new tricks, and ancient memories and habits are prone to lingering in personalities.
So call it what you want. A tragic model of human flaw, an example of faults within the second amendment, or a hidden streak of violence made obvious through the media and subconscious memories--whatever it is, it's appalling and completely sobering. My heart and thoughts go out to anyone who has had the misfortune of losing someone they care about. Here's to hoping that these occurrences will be as infrequent as possible in the future.
In the meantime, we need to see that there are a million grey areas in life. We can never provide a complete answer for any of them, and we can really only throw out our best guesses. Life is a mystery, and that's all we can ever hope to know for sure. The best we can do is try our hardest to make life worth living--both for ourselves and for others. Live to be remembered, live in a way that people around you respect and care for you, and live so that you respect and care for others. Smile because it feels good, and aim for happiness. And as tough as it may be to fight through the misery that life throws at us, that's all part of the ride. Live for the little things that make the ride worth it.
love Sierra.
