I praying that all of you and your families are safe and sound tonight, and if you are not my heart goes out to you and to all the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting <3
As most of you know, today sucked beyond all reason. 27 people, 20 innocent children aged 10 and under are gone. I was sitting at work and I happened to look at the news around 10-ish or so. The headline read something along the lines of "Shots fired in elementary school, gunman dead, several injured". My first reaction was "grreeeeeaaaattt... yet ANOTHER dumbass tried to kill himself and take several others with him, at least he didn't kill anyone". Over the next hour and a half or so the story changed. First it was two dead, then three, then "students among the wounded", eventually the headline of "reports that 18 students were killed" started popping up. I just sat at my desk with my hand over my mouth. I kept thinking "it's just a report... nothing is confirmed... nothing is confirmed... they have to be wrong". At this point the anxiety started to set in. I was thinking "This person got the idea to shoot up the school because someone just shot up a mall, what if someone decides to barge into my office and shoot people? Which desk should I hide under? Could I even get under a desk in time?" Naturally today there were a bunch of strangers in my office for various reasons, and every time someone would look into our door I'd think "Oh my God he's gonna kill us". The fear and panic died down after a few hours, but the sadness didn't, especially when the news confirmed that 20 children did not survive. At this point all I can do is wonder why did this happen?
I know we all have our theories and opinions about gun control and how more or less of it could have prevented this disaster, but I think the problem lies somewhere else. Why did this happen? The same reason why the recent mall shooting, the Aurora movie theatre shooting, Columbine, Virginia Tech, the Nickel Mines shootings, etc. happened. Because the shooters were out of their damn minds. How many of them were receiving proper mental health care? None. These people were seriously ill. They would requires countless sessions with some really freaking awesome therapists, God only knows how many expensive medications, and more than likely many stays in psychiatric hospitals. That's what they need, but that is rarely what they get. If you don't have insurance this would cost and INSANE amount of money, and if you are lucky and have insurance it will still cost an INSANE amount of money. If you can't afford to be properly treated, you won't be. This situation creates people like today's asshole. As soon as he was identified people said he was "not right" or "mentally ill". This kid should have been in a psych ward today, not an elementary school.
As Bob Dylan once said "how many deaths will it take till we know that too many people have died?" How many shootings do we have to endure before we fix this problem? When will we recognize that mental health is a very serious issue? When will we realize that everyone needs proper access to the medical care, that it doesn't only effect that one sick person, that they can take dozens down with them? Please, we cannot let this happen again. We cannot let these children die in vain... we just can't.
Crippie's Tippie - If you know anyone that you believe could pose a threat to themselves or others, please do not turn a blind eye towards them. Get them help, immediately.
