Off Topic: Violence in America

     No doubt we've all been saddened by the news coming from the elementary school in Connecticut.  I think that as a country, we need to step back and take a hard look at ourselves.  If it takes a village to raise a child, I'd say we're failing.  Not only are we failing to protect our kids from mentally ill people with assault weapons, but we're failing to provide support to our mentally ill, and we're promoting violence in the name of free commerce.

     If I could ask Santa for three things, they would be these:

• If we really cared about our kids as much as we say we do, we would make sure that they are safe.  Can you tell me why, in this day and age, many school buses still do not have seat belts?  And in my hot area of the country, why do many not have air conditioning?  I've heard of too many youngsters who have passed out on the bus due to overheating.  Why are schools so easy to get into to?  Security and safety should be made a top priority.
• Why do we cut, cut, cut from education, from our social services which provide support for the mentally ill and their families, or from the services which assist at-risk families?  It boggles the mind the millions of dollars that have been wasted in foreign countries, but we fail to support our own citizens.  In this aspect, I'd say the government, led by the voters, needs to do some major reprioritizing.
• Why do we glorify violence?  Why do we train young minds to become numb to violence through movies, video games, and music lyrics which attack authority figures and women?  Why do we think it's OK to carry around a concealed weapon?  The wild West is over, folks, and chances are that if someone started shooting in your direction and you pulled out your own gun, you would either miss and hurt someone or hurt yourself.  Really, assault weapons should not be in the hands of the public.  They're only designed to kill large numbers of people in an hyper-efficient manner. 

     I'm sorry if I'm going on and on, but if we are going to make the new age marked by the new long count Mayan calendar mean anything positive, we need to start changing how we've been doing things.  We need to stop looking for the quick buck, the short-term solution, and start changing our priorities.  We need to all become responsible villagers and start raising our children in love, safety, and peace.