I read your piece and commented. You've said it beautifully. Ignore the naysayers if you can. They're like broken records, no matter how many innocent lives are lost. We can't let them get to us!
It's so hard, I know. You can share it here if you like, or at least point us to it when you're finished. I'll get it anyway, but maybe others won't. Thanks.
Hi Ramona, I just discovered you during Office Hours. I'm new to Substack. Reading through this thread, I thought you and your readers might be interested in what I wrote this morning. It's a departure from the usual tenor of my "comedy" newsletter.
Amran, I just finished reading this piece at your newsletter and was trying to find your comment at Office Hours to tell you! That piece would hit home to any parent of small kids. How on earth do you talk to them about this? Your take is so original, so compelling.
I've subscribed, and I'm looking forward to reading more--including your humor pieces. Welcome to Writer Everlasting.
Thank you so much, Ramona. It's such an emotional thing to try to discuss and took a lot out of me to write. I do a lot of things wrong as a parent - as we all do - but one thing I've always told my kids is that I'll never shield them from the truth. Or sugarcoat things.
The piece really hit home with a lot of friends and family today, so while it feels icky to "promote" it, I think it has some real resonance.
Thank you for subscribing! I'm looking forward to following your work and getting engaged in the Writer Everlasting community.
Please do! I'll see you at your place, too. (I know what you mean about feeling icky about promoting our work. I'm trying to get over it--after 40-some years!)
I'm a teacher and the mother of a fourth grader. I'm so tired. I've spent months numbing myself to everything that's been happening in the world around me because it is all just to much and last night I couldn't keep the world out anymore. This hit WAY too close to home.
I know. it's exhausting and demoralizing and terrible to the spirit. But the gun nuts would like nothing more than for us to give up. How could we now?
Growing up without a father could permanently alter the structure of the brain, and produce more children who are more aggressive and angry. Children brought up only by a single mother have a higher risk of developing deviant behavior, including drug abuse, new research suggest. Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, McGill Univ. and Francis Bamlico, Center for Addiction and Mental Health, publishing in the journal, “CEREBRAL CORTEX.
Right on. I hate guns and am proud to say I’ve never held one and will most probably go to my grave saying the same thing. But I think the problem that is every bit as lethal (and maybe more) is the hate talk that gives legitimacy to these shooters. How slick the politicians are when they advocate violence to people who are looking for any excuse for why they feel like failures, incite the crazed with incendiary phrases and then say they are “heart sick” about the result. It’s cynical and disgusting.
Hate and access to guns do go hand in hand all too often, which should be enough to make our leaders want to find solutions instead of handing out band-aids. They're either on the side of hate and violence or they're unwilling to take gun control to a level that will cause them grief. That's called cowardice and they do us no favors. If leaders can't or won't lead, we need to know that before we install them into positions where we expect them to.
Oy - it just hurts so much. I had to write today for the Crones Who Care Project. What I had for Day 4 wasn't going to do it...no one wants to pledge kindness and compassion in all they do. So I laid awake most of the night trying how to figure in practicing agapé in the light of the murders of children. It's here, and I'm making phone calls today. https://medium.com/two-crones-initiative/no-more-thoughts-and-prayers-1e1a60633f3e
Great piece, Linda. I clapped and commented over at Medium. Thanks so much for caring and sharing. We are practicing kindness and compassion when we advocate for gun sanity. We're trying to save human lives, and it's exhausting and enraging, but we can't stop now.
Whilst I don’t live in the US, it baffles me as to how historically politicised the issue of gun control is. In an ideal world there should be bipartisan consensus on the issue of gun regulation. I find it horrendously unsettling when issues like these are still being fervently debated along political divides. This isn’t democracy at work but a putrid form of moral degradation.
Having served in the army for 4 years I’ve seen with my own eyes the ruthless devastation these weapons can inflict.
As a parent to young kids, my heart breaks for all who’ve lost their loved ones in this inexplicable tragedy (and the ones that preceded it).
Josh, it's baffling to me how anyone who served in the military and trained on those guns can decide they're okay for the public to own. They require large amounts of training, both physically and mentally. They're killing machines and should be treated that way. There is nothing normal about the everyday use of assault weapons, and every time I see some smug bastard brandishing them for a photo-op I want to call the paddy-wagon and throw him in jail where he belongs.
The last thing any normal human being should be doing is helping them celebrate their good fortune in owning one.
Thank you for this, Ramona. While I hate the feeling of powerlessness borne of the repeated, failed attempts to effect change, we must persist. The issue is so entrenched in the politics of power that the average citizen is left with little faith in traditional democratic processes. So, for now, I'm turning toward alternative avenues like community connection and radical compassion.
Elizabeth, I always love reading your pieces and find them both soothing and provocative. "Radical compassion" describes it perfectly. It gives me a reason to go on.
Heather Cox Richardson's contribution is, as always, stunning. She told me things about the NRA I never knew or had forgotten, and it's a history that bears repeating. They really were an innocent hunters' group at one time, until the Right-Wing factions took over and threw the good guys out.
I'm sorry and a moment of silence isn't good enough. At least as Tisha says we aren't being silent. Maybe if enough of us refuse to be silent - the message has a better chance of being heard.
Loud voices are out there at the moment but will it last? That's the story of these massacres. They're so horrific people find it hard to keep up the rage until something actually gets done. But Beto O'Rourke came out against Texas Governor Abbott in a most spectacular way today, calling his usual 'thoughts and prayers, pats on the back to those just doing their jobs' without once addressing the need for gun control.
I posted this comment on a “dad newsletter” I subscribed to just minutes ago, but because it’s what I’m feeling right now, I’m also sharing it here because I do wish to reach out and be part of the conversation.
I’m laying here next to my almost 2-year-old son as he’s sweetly napping and I’m having trouble processing the range of emotions I’m feeling. I don’t want to raise my son in this country, but we can’t afford to move from our neighborhood which has seen a recent uptick in gun violence, much less afford to move to another country. But this country is broken beyond repair, and I can’t see any signs of things ever getting better here. So, as hard as it may be, I’m making plans to get us out of here so that he can actually grow up without living in a constant state of fear and anxiety...and so I can too.
I'm so sorry I missed this, Chris. And I'm so sorry you have to feel this way. The anguish we all feel at the way this country is moving is nothing compared to our growing fear that unless something changes drastically, we'll all get caught up in it one day and feel the pain the others we've only read about are feeling. It's terrifying.
You have to do what you have to do. We all do. No shame, no regrets.
Thanks, Ramona. That was very well said. We've decided that even if we can't leave the country for several more years (because, after some research, we've found that's going to be ridiculously expensive) we're going to homeschool our son, and do our best to remain safe when in public. I suppose that's all any of us can really do. I appreciate your response.
I wrote/didn’t write something similar today. Impotent is the perfect word. When my 10yo asked if she was risking her life every time she goes to school I had nothing to say. It has to change. But it won’t. But it has to.
As the father of a third-grader, such stories are especially disturbing for me. Sadly, as writers and human beings, we have to strike a balance between never giving up and accepting that most people's views are so fossilized that nothing will ever change their mind, or even enter it. Confirmation bias, indeed. I have read that some states are seriously considering arming the students and staff at all schools. And, if that still isn't enough... arm the students! Back in Missouri, we had a saying, "If you keep going the direction you are headed, you're gonna get there." Sad.
Yes, we spend way too much time trying to change minds instead of changing policy and laws. When they get to the point of arming the schools the battle is already lost. They're admitting guns ARE the problem.
Schools, malls, churches, or other public places can't become fortresses. It's not feasible, it's not justifiable. It's insane. It's a stupid, deadly mindset and we have to work to change it.
Tisha, please feel free to share your piece here. Your voice is important. Thanks.
I read your piece and commented. You've said it beautifully. Ignore the naysayers if you can. They're like broken records, no matter how many innocent lives are lost. We can't let them get to us!
I'll be working on my piece throughout the day. I wouldn have last night, but I just needed to process in my head first.
It's so hard, I know. You can share it here if you like, or at least point us to it when you're finished. I'll get it anyway, but maybe others won't. Thanks.
Hi Ramona, I just discovered you during Office Hours. I'm new to Substack. Reading through this thread, I thought you and your readers might be interested in what I wrote this morning. It's a departure from the usual tenor of my "comedy" newsletter.
Hope it's meaningful: https://agowani.substack.com/p/my-kids-and-i-had-the-talk-about?s=w
Amran, I just finished reading this piece at your newsletter and was trying to find your comment at Office Hours to tell you! That piece would hit home to any parent of small kids. How on earth do you talk to them about this? Your take is so original, so compelling.
I've subscribed, and I'm looking forward to reading more--including your humor pieces. Welcome to Writer Everlasting.
Thank you so much, Ramona. It's such an emotional thing to try to discuss and took a lot out of me to write. I do a lot of things wrong as a parent - as we all do - but one thing I've always told my kids is that I'll never shield them from the truth. Or sugarcoat things.
The piece really hit home with a lot of friends and family today, so while it feels icky to "promote" it, I think it has some real resonance.
Thank you for subscribing! I'm looking forward to following your work and getting engaged in the Writer Everlasting community.
Please do! I'll see you at your place, too. (I know what you mean about feeling icky about promoting our work. I'm trying to get over it--after 40-some years!)
I'm a teacher and the mother of a fourth grader. I'm so tired. I've spent months numbing myself to everything that's been happening in the world around me because it is all just to much and last night I couldn't keep the world out anymore. This hit WAY too close to home.
I know. it's exhausting and demoralizing and terrible to the spirit. But the gun nuts would like nothing more than for us to give up. How could we now?
Growing up without a father could permanently alter the structure of the brain, and produce more children who are more aggressive and angry. Children brought up only by a single mother have a higher risk of developing deviant behavior, including drug abuse, new research suggest. Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, McGill Univ. and Francis Bamlico, Center for Addiction and Mental Health, publishing in the journal, “CEREBRAL CORTEX.
Right on. I hate guns and am proud to say I’ve never held one and will most probably go to my grave saying the same thing. But I think the problem that is every bit as lethal (and maybe more) is the hate talk that gives legitimacy to these shooters. How slick the politicians are when they advocate violence to people who are looking for any excuse for why they feel like failures, incite the crazed with incendiary phrases and then say they are “heart sick” about the result. It’s cynical and disgusting.
Hate and access to guns do go hand in hand all too often, which should be enough to make our leaders want to find solutions instead of handing out band-aids. They're either on the side of hate and violence or they're unwilling to take gun control to a level that will cause them grief. That's called cowardice and they do us no favors. If leaders can't or won't lead, we need to know that before we install them into positions where we expect them to.
Oy - it just hurts so much. I had to write today for the Crones Who Care Project. What I had for Day 4 wasn't going to do it...no one wants to pledge kindness and compassion in all they do. So I laid awake most of the night trying how to figure in practicing agapé in the light of the murders of children. It's here, and I'm making phone calls today. https://medium.com/two-crones-initiative/no-more-thoughts-and-prayers-1e1a60633f3e
Great piece, Linda. I clapped and commented over at Medium. Thanks so much for caring and sharing. We are practicing kindness and compassion when we advocate for gun sanity. We're trying to save human lives, and it's exhausting and enraging, but we can't stop now.
Thanks again for sharing here.
Thanks for writing this piece.
Whilst I don’t live in the US, it baffles me as to how historically politicised the issue of gun control is. In an ideal world there should be bipartisan consensus on the issue of gun regulation. I find it horrendously unsettling when issues like these are still being fervently debated along political divides. This isn’t democracy at work but a putrid form of moral degradation.
Having served in the army for 4 years I’ve seen with my own eyes the ruthless devastation these weapons can inflict.
As a parent to young kids, my heart breaks for all who’ve lost their loved ones in this inexplicable tragedy (and the ones that preceded it).
Josh, it's baffling to me how anyone who served in the military and trained on those guns can decide they're okay for the public to own. They require large amounts of training, both physically and mentally. They're killing machines and should be treated that way. There is nothing normal about the everyday use of assault weapons, and every time I see some smug bastard brandishing them for a photo-op I want to call the paddy-wagon and throw him in jail where he belongs.
The last thing any normal human being should be doing is helping them celebrate their good fortune in owning one.
Thank you for this, Ramona. While I hate the feeling of powerlessness borne of the repeated, failed attempts to effect change, we must persist. The issue is so entrenched in the politics of power that the average citizen is left with little faith in traditional democratic processes. So, for now, I'm turning toward alternative avenues like community connection and radical compassion.
I wrote about that here: https://elizabethbeggins.substack.com/p/short-wave?s=w
(Be sure to check out the linked article and the TED talk mentioned therein, both compelling.)
Also, Heather Cox Richardson's piece today is worth the read: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-24-2022?s=r
Elizabeth, I always love reading your pieces and find them both soothing and provocative. "Radical compassion" describes it perfectly. It gives me a reason to go on.
Heather Cox Richardson's contribution is, as always, stunning. She told me things about the NRA I never knew or had forgotten, and it's a history that bears repeating. They really were an innocent hunters' group at one time, until the Right-Wing factions took over and threw the good guys out.
Thanks for sharing both pieces.
I'm sorry and a moment of silence isn't good enough. At least as Tisha says we aren't being silent. Maybe if enough of us refuse to be silent - the message has a better chance of being heard.
Loud voices are out there at the moment but will it last? That's the story of these massacres. They're so horrific people find it hard to keep up the rage until something actually gets done. But Beto O'Rourke came out against Texas Governor Abbott in a most spectacular way today, calling his usual 'thoughts and prayers, pats on the back to those just doing their jobs' without once addressing the need for gun control.
Beto got booted out of the auditorium and then he spoke again outside. It's truly worth the watch: https://twitter.com/BFriedmanDC/status/1529531704695742465
I saw that exchange, as well - bravo to Beto.
Completely agree. Bravo to Beto, indeed! If only this country had more politicians with a spine and a conscience like him.
I posted this comment on a “dad newsletter” I subscribed to just minutes ago, but because it’s what I’m feeling right now, I’m also sharing it here because I do wish to reach out and be part of the conversation.
I’m laying here next to my almost 2-year-old son as he’s sweetly napping and I’m having trouble processing the range of emotions I’m feeling. I don’t want to raise my son in this country, but we can’t afford to move from our neighborhood which has seen a recent uptick in gun violence, much less afford to move to another country. But this country is broken beyond repair, and I can’t see any signs of things ever getting better here. So, as hard as it may be, I’m making plans to get us out of here so that he can actually grow up without living in a constant state of fear and anxiety...and so I can too.
I'm so sorry I missed this, Chris. And I'm so sorry you have to feel this way. The anguish we all feel at the way this country is moving is nothing compared to our growing fear that unless something changes drastically, we'll all get caught up in it one day and feel the pain the others we've only read about are feeling. It's terrifying.
You have to do what you have to do. We all do. No shame, no regrets.
Thanks, Ramona. That was very well said. We've decided that even if we can't leave the country for several more years (because, after some research, we've found that's going to be ridiculously expensive) we're going to homeschool our son, and do our best to remain safe when in public. I suppose that's all any of us can really do. I appreciate your response.
I wrote/didn’t write something similar today. Impotent is the perfect word. When my 10yo asked if she was risking her life every time she goes to school I had nothing to say. It has to change. But it won’t. But it has to.
As the father of a third-grader, such stories are especially disturbing for me. Sadly, as writers and human beings, we have to strike a balance between never giving up and accepting that most people's views are so fossilized that nothing will ever change their mind, or even enter it. Confirmation bias, indeed. I have read that some states are seriously considering arming the students and staff at all schools. And, if that still isn't enough... arm the students! Back in Missouri, we had a saying, "If you keep going the direction you are headed, you're gonna get there." Sad.
Yes, we spend way too much time trying to change minds instead of changing policy and laws. When they get to the point of arming the schools the battle is already lost. They're admitting guns ARE the problem.
Schools, malls, churches, or other public places can't become fortresses. It's not feasible, it's not justifiable. It's insane. It's a stupid, deadly mindset and we have to work to change it.