It's Been Said....

God, Guns, Guts, Glory: On "GLORY" This, the last blog post in a four part series, was a struggle for me......how to present this in such a way so as not to offend anyone. Is that even possible? There are many who are offended, including me, by images of Christ portrayed with guns in hand circulating on the Internet. I don't consider myself to be a Christian, per se, but I simply cannot wrap my head around why anyone would try to make a point by using images of an armed Christ to make that point....especially those trying to promote God, Guns, Guts, Glory! One of the more offensive images I saw was this one I found on Pinterest: Pinterest Some of those images have included some pretty in your face text that Christ did not, and arguably would not have, said. That's a problem, but not, perhaps, in how some of us actually perceive it to be a problem. Some would have us believe that portraying Christ in any way outside of perceived Christian standards is a problem. Af...

God, Guns, Guts, Glory: On 'GUTS'! 'Guts'! The word has different meanings  for different people. That is simply a statement of fact. The thing is, most of the time in written definitions I've seen, the word 'Guts' is defined as something physical, something within each and every one of us as a part of our anatomy, not something defined, as many of us perceive it to be, as being related to the slang usage most often attributed to the word in a verbal sense. In that context, 'Guts' can mean courage, fortitude, determination, and a whole slew of other such descriptors  each of them with their own set of descriptors, all of which inevitably circle around and come right back to the word 'Guts', albeit in a euphemistic sense, all related to each other, all synonyms of each other. Also, sometimes it might be safe to say the use of the word 'Guts' is viewed by some to be more of a 'male' thing than it is a 'female' t...

Passive Activism in School Safety --- NOT a Good Look! You can lead a horse to water, but....... The blame game is fast, furious, and intense after each and every school shooting, both large and small. Social media is always awash in memes and stories following school shootings, both large and small. Most times, school shootings, both large and small, are just one more in a long list of similar incidents that will result in not much, if anything, being done to curb this currently rising trend. Lots of folks will opine that things ARE, in fact, being done. That is, in fact, true. Some things ARE being done. Guidance, laws (active shooter drills sound familiar?), school safety initiatives, gun violence prevention initiatives/movements, etc. All are actively involved in specific areas to promote school safety. But, if that's true, then why do school shootings, both large and small, continue to occur and appear to be on the increase? Sorry. Rhetorical..... Some folks call for metal det...

Massacre Fatigue is REAL Virtually every time there's a mass shooting, the first thing I note is the number of folks who opine we never thought it could happen to us (or here).  There are also times when I'm just taken aback by the abject stupidity of some folks. Apparently, Jordan De La Garza for Texas is one of them.  As a Columbine parent, I would ask him if he thinks Columbine is a 'dead horse'? It's often cited as a bellwether for other school mass shootings. I would also ask him if he gets that the families impacted by the Robb Elementary school massacre will NEVER truly "have what they need" (speaking from personal experience as a result of the Columbine massacre)? It appears Mr. De La Garza deleted his Twitter account after this Tweet. Might that be because of the pushback he received?  But I digress.....  Please excuse me if I sound more than a bit cynical when I ask if it's really that much of an inconvenience that news coverage of mass s...

God, Guns, Guts, Glory: Part 2...."GUNS" Awhile back, I published a blog post entitled  God, Guns, Guts, Glory: Part 1....."GOD" . This blog post is the second in the series of "God, Guns, Guts, Glory". I should probably make something clear before I start, though: While the tenor of quite a lot of this blog post appears to be directed toward Christian God, all things herein are equally attributable to Muslim God and Jewish God as far as I'm concerned. It's just that I am most familiar with Christian God. So, I admit to having a tendency to focus on what I do know, and to provide bits and pieces of information on Muslim God and Jewish God if the point I'm trying to make happens to be applicable to them, too. With that in mind, would it be safe to put it out there the NRA is pretty much a lightning rod on the issues of gun violence and gun safety today? Kind of hit you between the eyes with that one, didn't I? Their leadership have colle...