It's Been Said....

  My Thoughts on 'Civilian' Weaponry I saw an article recently in The Atlantic ( What I Saw Treating the Victims From Parkland Should Change the Debate on Guns ) on how damages to human flesh done by an AR-15 are different than those caused by some other semi-automatic weapons. That article sat me back on my keister more than just a little bit. Why? Because I believe my daughter is still alive today because an  AR-15 assault style weapon  was NOT the weapon used to critically injure her at Columbine High School April 20, 1999. Rather, the weapon used to shoot my daughter was a  Hi-Point 995 Carbine 9 mm semi-automatic rifle , a semi-automatic long gun. To be perfectly clear, I do not portray the Hi-Point Model 995 Carbine Rifle herein in any way, shape, or form as being anything but a semi-automatic long gun. I’m simply using it as a comparison to the AR-15 and the damages both can inflict based on research and my own personal analysis and experience. The Atlant...

  My Two Cents: Compassion – A Double Edged Sword Having compassion for others suffering from some form of trauma is a good thing, right?  Acting on our compassion to try and help out is what some say life is all about…especially if the recipients are people we don’t even know. That appears to be the case with  a teacher battling cancer who ran out of sick days while dealing with issues surrounding his treatment regimen. According to the article that was published in December 2018: “The Florida public school teacher figured he needed at least 20 additional sick days to deal with more chemotherapy, days he just didn't have.” The teacher, Robert Goodman, took a selfie, asked for help, and posted on Facebook. The results of his plea were simply amazing! When fellow teachers saw his plea for help, they donated some of their sick days to him. Within four days, he’d been given far more than the 20 days he’d requested. Mr. Goodman  returned to his classroom 11 months later...

  Is Suicide by Gun Actually Gun Violence? Warning: Some may find the subject matter discussed in this post unsettling.   There have been many debates I’ve engaged in where avid pro-gun 2nd Amendment supporters say things to me I’d rather not hear. Whenever those discussions revolve around suicide by gun and a relational association to gun violence, a typical discussion often goes something like this: Them : Suicide by gun is NOT GUN VIOLENCE (yeah, they almost always all caps me to help drive home their point)! Me : Why not? Them : Because the person committing suicide (they all say "committing"....I'm leaving it in here because it comes from those who really don't know the connotation of the word) with a gun doesn’t kill anyone else. Me : So, let me get this straight….someone putting a gun to their head, and pulling the trigger isn’t ending their life in as violent a manner as someone committing a murder (see the correlation to "committing suicide"? I hope...

Dredging Up The Past To Better Understand Where We Are Now Is it ever ok to delve into one's family discord, dynamics, dirty laundry, and dysfunction and make them public? Or, is it better to sweep things under a rug or to let sleeping dogs lie as the old adage goes? These are serious questions that I know a lot of folks struggle with more often than they'd like to admit. I'm no different. A long time ago (2013 to be exact...not too long after the school massacre that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012), someone from Connecticut made a comment on another blog post I'd written in which I discussed a few personal family matters, the primary one of which focused on a rift that had developed between my daughter, Anne Marie, and members of my family including me. For those who may not remember, Anne Marie was shot twice at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Her injuries were grievous and the fact she survived is a miracle in and of itself. I wr...