Friday July 27 2012 106 pm
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(Photo credit: Siadhal via Flickr.com)
Aurora, Colorado. Another senseless mass shooting. Another killing of innocents by a disturbed man, someone who never should have owned the vast armaments in his possession. Another time to mourn, another pause to ask questions, another requirement to set down the newspaper or the dinner ingredients in order to answer your child’s questions about why someone would kill people who are engaged in the peaceful act of watching a movie. If your children are older, perhaps the first time to explain that there are some incredibly difficult questions for which you won’t ever be able to provide adequate answers.
A time for grief, thought and resolution. And if we as a nation can see fit to pull ourselves together–can we?–a time for a little hope.
I’ve written about this sort of thing, unfortunately, twice before on this blog, so I won’t repeat myself. I wrote when a man targeted a group of Amish schoolgirls in October 2006, and again after the Virginia Tech shooting in April 2007. As Roger Ebert said so eloquently, “We’ve Seen This Movie Before.” We do need to mourn, and ask questions, maybe even some hard questions about our media and our culture like the ones posed by author and former literary agent Nathan Bransford in this thoughtful blog post, “Violence in American Culture.” Consider these thoughts, put them together with your own.
What can we learn from all of this? What can we do going forward? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
From tragedy to a more positive spirit: tonight, the 2012 Summer Olympics begin in London. From a purely selfish perspective, on behalf of our nation, I can’t think of better timing.
I’m not a sports fanatic, but I confess to loving the Olympics. All that setting aside of differences, coming together in friendly competition, global bonding and stories of dedication and obstacles overcome–how can you not appreciate this? (Even if the commentating does get a bit cheesy sometimes.)
Geeky mom that I am, I began channeling my Olympics enthusiasm into a celebration as soon as I thought my older child could begin to understand it. The opening ceremonies are a Big Deal in my house, with a globe and atlas on hand to look up unfamiliar countries and locate ones we might not be able to place, food and drink from the hosting country and anything else we can think of.
So what’s on tap this time? Blimey if I’m not going to try to fry up some fish n’ chips–pub style, of course–and those who are of age will wash it down with some British ale. We’ve also got assorted tea and scones with clotted cream, Walker’s shortbread, digestive biscuits and a few other goodies. Finally, as it happens, we’ll have a few actual Brits in the room. We and the friends joining us are each hosting a British soccer coach in our respective homes this week, and they will be on hand for the festivities. It should be fun–and you’re welcome to lay odds on whether or not the Brits will actually eat my attempt at pub-fried fish n’ chips!
Here’s to hope, remembrance and the better parts of the human spirit.
(Photo credit: Red66 via Flickr.com)
