The Devil's Greatest Trick

"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist" -- Charles Baudelaire

I am, finally, at a place where I can form coherent sentences about the Newtown tragedy.  To all those I cussed last week and told to "shut the f--k up", my sincere apologies.  December 17th was the 5th anniversary of my brother's suicide ( he used a gun), I have a first grader, and both of my sons are on the autism spectrum of disorders.  That made for the perfect storm of grief and emotional chaos and I just couldn't talk about this until now.

Banning all firearms would not have stopped this tragedy or any of those that proceeded it.  The guns used were purchased legally and the shooter stole them.

Banning "assault weapons" would not have stopped this tragedy.  You can shoot just as many people with a handgun as you can a rifle-- sometimes more.

An armed guard or an armed teacher wouldn't have stopped this tragedy.  They might have interceded before the shooter reached a classroom, but the adults killed at the outset would have been just as dead and there's no guarantee that people would not have been killed in the crossfire.  

Having a father in the shooter's home would not have stopped this.  There are plenty of bad people who grow up with both parents. A "male presence" does not automatically equal a strong role model.

More, or less, religion in schools would  not have stopped this.  God was in Sandy Hook Elementary that day.  His grace can been seen in the actions of the teachers who gave their lives to protect their students.

Evil exists in this world and it's time we stopped trying to rationalize it.  The Devil's work, bad karma, corrupted energies, I don't care what you call it, and more importantly, evil itself doesn't care how you define it.  There are bad people, broken people, in this world.  They are disconnected from basic human decency and love.  Many of these people are saved through  pharmaceuticals, therapy, or God's love.  Some, though, are not saved and they spread their evil and cause horrible pain.

We must not give-in to evil any more than we can simply ignore its existence.  We must fight it every day and try to touch as many lives as we can.  We can remove weapons of mass murder from the easy access of mentally ill persons.  That won't prevent all future shootings, but it might stop a few.  We can discuss societal issues in healthy, informed, debates that depend less on rhetoric and more on common sense and common decency.  We can educate ourselves about depression and emotional disturbances and deal with them in a caring, courageous, fashion.  We must not isolate and  ignore those that are "different".  We must find ways to ease their pain and show them that we care.

And that is what we must do most of all: we must care.  We must love each other--every day, every one, every where-- and we must stop pretending that we can best the forces of evil with small, one-time gestures.  This is an eternal war with no decisive battle.  We must fight it every day of our lives.

Talk, act, care, love-- stand up to silence, indecision, indifference, and hate.

Be the light in the darkness.