Drunken Loose Cannon

I wasn’t certain if I was going to comment or post anything concerning the tragedy in Connecticut, but considering social media has been bombarded with the “news” and with people frantically throwing their two cents around, thoroughly missing the point, I felt compelled to say a few things.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to dive too much into the debate of gun laws here, nor will I express where I stand on the issue. Even though guns were utilized in this horrible act, what I’m going to discuss has little to do with weapons. Instead, I would like to discuss something called respect, integrity, love and a little thing called parenting.

I look around today to see that those four things are sorely missing. It appears that no one has any type of respect for anything in this day in age, whether is be for school teachers, personal rights, personal property, police officers, the poor, the rich, or even  our own President. I’ve been theorizing intensely over the absence of respect and what exactly has instigated this sad shift in thinking.  I believe it has a lot to do with how we perceive ourselves and also how we were brought up. This is where integrity, love and parenting come into play. Our parents play a crucial role in our development as people, they establish guidelines, they set rules, and they are role models (for good or ill). I feel it’s important for parents to not only show love and respect but to teach love and respect for one’s self and others. It’s a parent’s duty to teach their children the difference between right and wrong, while explaining and demonstrating what integrity is and means. It’s also crucial to teach your young ones that everyone’s life is a gift and should be respected, even if you don’t necessary agree with them or understand them.

We always miss the point when something as tragic as the shooting in Connecticut occurs, mainly because the 24 hour news cycle and the political pundits pounce like wild animals and twirl it into a political issue.  Killings, shootings, and stabbings should not be discussed as a political issue, yet as soon as a catastrophe like this goes down, News Channels report their garbage and in response, Facebook and Twitter is barraged with pro-gun or anti-gun stances. “Experts” come out of the woodwork blaming or absolving guns, movies and videogames as the culprits, missing the decisive point: no matter what factors contributed to the tragedy, it was ultimately the choice of a person or people to do what they did. That’s a choice we all make, everyday. I could be holding a detonator for a nuclear bomb and have all the “power “ I have ever wanted but when it’s all said and done I am the one that has to decide to physically push that button. That’s a choice. Like I said, I’m not here to talk about gun control, I’m here to say we simply need self control and you get that through parenting and love. You get that by having respect and integrity.

Respect promotes an attitude of self worth, not only for others, but of one’s self. Integrity promotes accountability…accountability for ones own actions. When a tragedy accusers we want to blame everything and everyone other than the person or persons who actually committed the act. We glorify the madness and miss or forget that actual people have died. We make it more than what it is and theorize endlessly because we have our heads so far up our own asses. We don’t hold people accountable; we don’t want to address the fact that respect, integrity and individual accountability has gone out the window…no sir, we want to turn this into a social or political issue. It’s time to wake up people. It’s time to turn off your T.V.’s and do something other than post comments all day. Just try to be good parents, be good citizens, do what is right and honorable, have respect for yourself and others, pay attention to what is actually going on around you and by all means act like you know something.

There has been numerous mass killings the past few years and we can sit all day long and have debate after debate about gun control or gun rights, but when it’s all said and done we have to look at ourselves and take accountability. What makes a person want to commit such heinous acts? That’s what we need to address.

We are better than this though, I do know that. It’s time to step up and take control my friends. It’s time to get our house in order. It’s time to get back to basics and do right by others. Get right with yourself and hold yourself accountable. Respect, Integrity and Love. Show it, know it, teach it, be it.