On February 14, a 19-year old young man walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the small city of Parkland, Florida and started spraying bullets.
He took 17 lives, including those of both students and faculty; among them were a geography teacher who was killed as he tried to usher students back into his classroom when the gunfire started ringing out, as well as an assistant football coach who threw himself in front of students to protect them from a hail of bullets.
The murders took place on Valentine鈥檚 Day; a day intended to be about full and loving hearts replaced by shattered and broken ones.
You go through a whole circle of emotions when you read this kind of horrifying news.聽 Your heart instantly breaks at the realization that 17 lives were ended in what has to be the coldest and most terrifying way to leave this earth; you become angry at all the people in positions of power who have the clout to truly do something about gun control and tackling mental health issues; and even though it sounds selfish to say it, you feel a sense of relief that you live in an area where this kind of tragedy doesn鈥檛 happen.聽 (Fingers crossed so tightly it almost hurts)
But now, I almost just feel a sense of numbness because we鈥檝e seen this senseless violence happen over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
Was that enough 鈥榦vers鈥�?聽 When you consider the statistics, not likely.
School shootings have seemed to become a terrible kind of 鈥榥orm鈥� in the United States. 聽That might be a grim way to look at it, but I really don鈥檛 know how else to describe it.聽 The events of last week 鈥� the new St. Valentine鈥檚 Day Massacre, perhaps? 鈥� wound up being the 7th school shooting incident since 2018 started; a day short of just six weeks.
So what now?聽 Well, with our easy access to news and the monstrous number of shootings that have taken place in the past decade, it鈥檚 become rather easy to predict what typically happens in the media, on the political and Hollywood side of things, and in our general society when the next horrible tragedy occurs.
First up is all the people on social media who want to make sure that *their* feelings and views are heard just as the news is trickling in about the latest massacre.聽 See, it鈥檚 important to know that Sally in Wisconsin is thinking about the victims with a hashtag like #prayforthem, or that Bill in Oregon sends his 鈥渢houghts and prayers鈥�.聽 If those 18 seconds of typing or even copy-and-pasting weren鈥檛 enough support, then there鈥檚 always the 鈥渢emporary profile picture鈥� on Facebook where your main image is adorned with a special flag or symbol to tell people, 鈥淗ey, I just want you to know that I鈥橫 totally sending my condolences with this photo鈥︹�t least until like next week or something when I change it back.鈥�
Next up is the talking heads on TV; the news anchors who dissect every last piece of information related to the shooter and the incident, including perhaps what he or she had for breakfast that day, what their favourite colors are/were, etc.聽 Then there are the late night talk show hosts who 鈥済et real鈥� for the audience instead of the standard monologues full of tired Trump jokes.聽 Some may shed tears (looking at you, Jimmy Kimmel) and some may actually do something notable like take Congress to task, but before long, it鈥檚 back to the comedy and sweeping all this 鈥渄rama鈥� under the rug.
Finally, we have the politicians.聽 First we get the standard 鈥渢houghts and prayers鈥� speech (sensing a pattern?) full of remorse and sympathy from the President, and he鈥檒l then visit the site of the shooting to meet with families and local officials.聽 We鈥檒l know he鈥檚 done this because he鈥檒l be flanked by about 6,000 cameras and press.
But after that, nothing will be done to attack why these shootings take place. 聽Nothing about gun control and nothing about the mental health issues that cause someone to snap and do something like this.
I don鈥檛 offer my 鈥渢houghts and prayers鈥� because it seems like a hollow exercise that offers no real remorse.
I don鈥檛 drape my social media pictures in special flags or heart-shaped symbols to tell people I don鈥檛 know that 鈥淚鈥檓 there for you鈥�.
I don鈥檛 even really know what to do anymore because it just seems like no one important is listening or willing to do anything REAL about it.
It鈥檚 become almost a cycle of shoot, rant, rinse and repeat.
And the cycle goes on and on and on.
For this week, that鈥檚 been the Ruttle Report.
