Me and Jack just want to stare into space and are not feeling the posting vibe today. ALTHOUGH, let me note, today is Rhonda’s birthday, and we hope to be celebrating it this weekend. It’s also Star Wars day, which is always fun on social media, especially animals dressed as characters from the films. Those are fun and good things.
On the flip side, the date is a somber one for me. We lost a friend to AIDS on May 4 in 1995, and for most of my life, the date has meant the shootings at Kent State in 1970. There’s a 1981 made-for-TV-movie about the incident based on the book by James Michener which I read back then. It was depressing and maddening. The movie was filmed near the town(s) where I lived in Alabama, and someone we knew was in it. I’ve seen it only once before, so I watched a copy on YouTube tonight that’s poor quality for some of the sound and some of the night scenes.
That incident was a perfect storm, and I feel like over the decades, we’ve seen too many of those. It makes me sad when I read people on social media from around the world who say they’re afraid to visit the U.S. anymore. Some countries issue travel advisories to their citizens about coming here because of gun violence, and travelers are warned:
The small-town girl who tried to process Kent State in 1970 could never have predicted this is where we’d be now.
I’ve got photos of Poppy sitting like that, contemplating the Universe.
A belated Happy Birthday to Rhonda!
Certainly a contemplative day for you. I do find the stats on shootings and mass shootings in the States incredible. As some people point out, we do have a big problem with knife crime over here, although that tends to be amongst younger people and gangs. It’s also a lot easier to kill a lot of people in a short space of time with a gun (and doesn’t require getting up close and personal). I would still travel to the States. One has to be careful not to go into certain areas everywhere.
Sweet Poppy. Penny did this, as well. Both dogs are so missed.
I will pass on your birthday felicitations!
It’s true that there are high crime areas (and of course, I believe if we would address issues of poverty, hunger, and homelessness and the underlying issues of mental illness and systemic racism, there would be less of those, but that’s not the direction we’re going when we privatize education and prisons, don’t value libraries, and wage war on women, and I could go on and on about this, but nobody cares except the people who already agree with me, so I don’t).
The view of us from without perceives that no place is safe anymore when people are being gunned down in small-town churches or while shopping at the mall, watching a movie, sitting in their classrooms, dancing at a trendy bar, or running in a marathon. Wealth and its pursuit have permeated every area of our culture. Social problems are not glamorous to analyze or to correct.
I sound so bleak, but I still have hope. I still believe we can be better and do better. Good luck with your elections today!