Wagon Train Advocacy

 

Wagon Train Advocacy

Wagon train advocacy…what the heck is that?

Bear with me.

At a social gathering at my sister’s residence a few months out from the massacre at Columbine, one of her friends remarked if they heard one more word about Columbine they’d puke! 

We were all talking about Columbine at the time. 

The silence following that remark was deafening.

I wanted to use some pretty ‘choice’ words in response, but being the nice, kind, polite kind of guy I am (you’re just going to have to take my word for it), I restrained myself.

I said nothing. My glare pretty much conveyed what I was thinking though.

Given the devastation that the Columbine massacre had inflicted on my family, the repugnance of that person’s remark was not lost on any of us.

Needless to say I’ve had no contact with this person for many years. It’s likely that will never change.

So, where am I going with this?

In the months following the Columbine massacre media coverage was constant. So were the solicitations of advocacy groups that seemingly popped up out of nowhere. 

Those groups came at us from every direction imaginable.

Some of these advocacy groups took advantage of the ‘notoriety’ of this incident. Media coverage did not help.

Most of these groups were legitimate. A few were not.

Most of these groups had noble aspirations. Some did not. In fact, some of these groups’ solicitations were pervasive.

After awhile, the sheer number of advocacy groups got to be more than a bit overwhelming for some folks…like the person I mentioned earlier, for example.

Some folks simply had had enough. 

Given what’s going on in this day and age, I gotta ask has anything really changed since Columbine. 

There’s been a significant up tick in the number of mass shootings. 

Has anyone tallied the number of advocacy groups that correspond to each of those mass shootings? 

Can’t answer? Neither can I.  

From the February 15, 2018 issue of Westword: 

“The Parkland incident was at least the 208th school shooting to take place in Columbine's wake.”

So, we can answer how many school shootings there were between Columbine and Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD). But we can’t definitively answer how many advocacy groups formed in that same timeframe?

A few of the advocacy groups that sprang up following the MSD massacre:

• Fred Guttenberg’s Orange Ribbons for Jaime. His daughter, Jaime, was murdered.
• Andrew Pollack’s Americans for Children's Lives and School Safety (C.L.A.S.S). His daughter, Meadow, was murdered.
• March For Our Lives.
• Stand With Parkland.
• Families vs Assault Rifles (they do not have a website - the link provided is to their Facebook page. They also have an Instagram account by the same name).

Those are only a few that I could find….for one massacre…only one.

Following mass shooting incidents that gain national notoriety on some level, new groups form trying to raise funds to advocate for their cause. That's a statement of fact.

Many of those groups couch their fundraising efforts in trying to make a difference in gun violence prevention and/or school safety. That’s a statement of fact, as well.

Many of those groups view their own efforts as ground-breaking. They’re not. In fact, they’re not the first to go down that road. Sadly, they won’t be the last.

That is not meant to disparage. Nor is it meant to discourage.

It is, however, a mistake on their part to try and go it alone in my humble opinion.

Many have no clue how difficult their mission(s) will be.

According to the executive director of Families vs. Assault Rifles, Matt Gohd, in an article from the Miami Herald :

“None of us had a grasp of how difficult this would be,” Gohd said. “We needed more resources, more people.”

According to the article, Families vs. Assault Rifles is “regrouping”.

That’s really too bad, but it isn’t the end of the world for them.

I've been saying for decades now post-Columbine that gun violence prevention and school safety advocacy groups need to stop going it alone following these massacres and band together. 

Think of it like a wagon train wending its way through hostile territory and dangerous environments. Survival of the community of wagon train members relied on their support for each other. After all, there’s strength in numbers.

Wouldn’t that same principle apply if gun violence prevention and school safety advocates were to wagon train together and use it to their advantage? 

Wagon trains – strength in numbers – stronger advocacy – it could work.

My two cents.

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God, Guns, Guts, Glory: Part 1....."GOD"

God, Guns, Guts, Glory: Part 1....."GOD"

Gotta wonder how some people think sometimes.

When discussions on the issues of religion, gun violence, gun safety, gun rights, war, peace, the 2nd Amendment, the Constitution, movies on snipers, patriotism, arming teachers, eliminating gun free zones, concealed and open carry, and so many more go in the direction of God, Guns, Guts, Glory, and one sits back and really takes stock of that very short, very concise, very glib statement, how should it make one feel?

God, Guns, Guts, Glory....How does that statement make YOU feel?

Comfy? Cozy? Safe, perhaps?

My question to you if you feel any of these is why? I mean, really look inside yourself to answer that question. Why? 

Why does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel comfy? 

Why does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel cozy? 

Why does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel safe?

Conversely, does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel uncomfortable?

Does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel squeamish? 

Does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel a little less safe, perhaps?

Would God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel uncomfortable, squeamish, or perhaps a little less safe....even a little bit....especially if it could be proven to you there are people who buy into this concept, the concept of God, Guns, Guts, Glory? Perhaps hundreds of them? Perhaps hundreds of thousands of them?

Truth be told, the numbers are more likely in the millions of people buying into the concept of God, Guns, Guts, Glory.

That so many buy into the concept of God, Guns, Guts, Glory makes me feel a little uncomfortable, feel a little squeamish, feel a little less safe. How does it make YOU feel?

There is actually a website called God, Guns, Guts, Glory. There are also multiple Facebook pages by the same name. Some leave guts out - others do not.

Twitter? Yep.

Pinterest? Oh, yeah.

Online stores? No problem.

An example of the image you can have put on a t-shirt, coffee cup, fridge magnet, or anything else you might be able to think of:

Good thing there wasn't an image of Guts included - that could get kind of gross, eh?

Yep. They're all there. Except the only God in this entire menagerie appears to be the Christian God. No God of anyone else - just the Christian God.

So, let's start with GOD - Christian GOD!

Damn, but there are a lot of people that seem to have this perception that Christian God is a man - a white man - a white man with a beard - a white man with a beard who seems to love and hate all at the same time.

This deity has, according to the Bible, been kind of a genocidal maniac at times. I mean, he's ordered men here on Earth to kill thousands, to spare no one, not even the women and children. Is that why some people of the Christian persuasion today don't seem to have a problem with killing others in Christian God's name?

And yet, to hear tell, like in Sunday School, church services, Bible School and the like, this deity is kind, benevolent, and will save us if we only follow him (or could it be her?).

Don't you dare follow any other God, though, or there'll be HELL to pay!

Well, DAMN, but that just kind of rankles now, doesn't it? If it doesn't, it probably should. After all, envy just happens to be one the seven deadly sins. Christian God isn't envious, now is he? If it's good for us, shouldn't Christian God also follow his/her own rules? I mean, c'mon!

But, how many Gods are there? I mean, really? How...many...Gods...are...there?

How can we follow only one God when there are so many Gods to choose from?

I've been told there is only one God - the Christian God. If that's true, then why do so many people in so many places, of so many ethnicities, of  so many cultures, of so many denominations, of so many sects worship Gods other than the Christian God? Think about that.

For those Christians following this blog, in my last post Religion - Uses and Abuses, I provided research data on somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 different denominations within the Christian faith alone. Adding to that confusion by pointing out that Allah, Yahweh, and Christian God are all the same God, the God of Abraham, and what we have here is a failure to communicate - between and amongst faiths, denominations, and sects.

Could it be? Could it possibly be that the problems we see today regarding religious extremism are part and parcel of that failure to communicate? Not only between faiths, but also denominations and sects within those faiths?

Take Christianity. It's already been noted there are somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 Christian denominations. 

But, what about Islam?

Muslims apparently don't go by the word denomination. Rather, they go by the term 'sects'. Seems there are only five Islamic sects according to World Atlas. Seems a little odd, doesn't it? Sorry....rhetorical.

So, Christianity: up to 40,000 denominations. Islam: five sects.

Now let's see how those of the Jewish faith compare. Doggone it! They don't have denominations either. Sects, yes. Denominations, no. And only five sects at that.

What's wrong with that picture? Nothing, when you come right down to it. Numbers mean nothing in the final analysis. What matters is ideology and rigid dogma. Why? Well, in the end, it is people, not Christian God, not Allah, not Yahweh that actually write and then interpret religious documents. Could it be the people who do that, the men and women who wrote/write and then interpret religious documents are the problem? After all, they are only human.

And therein lies the dangers associated with extremist groups within every religion of the world.

My two cents.....

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Religion - Uses and Abuses

While this blog post doesn't specifically address the issue of Roe v Wade and abortion rights, indirectly the things I'm offering herein do. Given that the U.S. Supreme Court appears ready to overturn Roe v Wade, I'm hoping what is being presented  will bring a little bit of perspective as to why so many folks appear to be focusing in on how religion and religious beliefs appear to be guiding at least some of the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court in their decision-making process. 

Some people say everyone needs religion. Others say not so much. When does it become problematic one way or the other? I believe it becomes very problematic when someone tries to force-feed their version of religion onto others.

I read somewhere there are something like thirty to forty thousand denominations classified as part of the Christian religion worldwide. Think about that for a second - or take as long as you need to digest this nugget of information. It's actually pretty intimidating on its face.

Why are there so many? Are their beliefs really that different from each other? Within each denomination there are other sub-denominations. Why is that? This is just so very confusing on so many levels. And it's not unique to Christianity, either.

Each and every religion teaches some form of peace. And, yet we have war between and amongst these religions - vicious all out atrocity filled genocidal war. That just doesn't make any sense to me. I saw a cartoon that illustrated this conundrum perfectly:

Slogans like the following are commonplace:

God, country, guns! Yeah, baby! More guns! God wants it that way. You ain't a patriot if you don't believe in God, country, and guns - for some, not necessarily in that order.

God hates fags! Gotta say, this one makes me sick to my stomach.

You're going to HELL if you aren't a born again Christian! Say what?! What IS Hell, anyway? The Pope, himself, is saying there ain't no such thing.

Hatred isn't exclusively Christian, either:

Buddhists target Muslims in Sri Lanka. Buddhists target Muslims? Buddhists are supposed to be peaceful, meditation kinds of guys. This can't be right. But, it IS.

Violence in Hinduism. Hinduism? Don't they believe in reincarnation? Don't be stepping on those insects, hear. They might be a relative.

Are these truly religious values? If it is, I gotta wonder........

So, where am I going with all of this?

By now, many of you following my blog know I'm a Columbine Dad. We're a Columbine and Platte Canyon family. Our journey of healing has been long and arduous to say the least.

Following the massacre at Columbine High School, my life and the lives of my kids were turned upside down when my first wife took her own life with a gun six months later. After that, our wheels came off completely.

In my loss and confusion, I turned to religion for answers - the religion of Christianity to be specific. The denomination doesn't matter for purposes of this writing.

I wasn't a very religious person before these events, and I really didn't have time following them to be very religious either. I didn't go to church very much before, and the only time I went to church after was for my first wife's funeral.

I started reading the Bible. I vowed to read it all the way through.

Prayers became a nightly ritual for me: "God! Give me some kind of a sign, anything at all, so that I'll be able to survive this torture and still be there for my kids."

Every single night, these words, thoughts, and emotions were communicated through prayer. Every...single...night.

But, I'll be very honest here - I didn't get any answers - at least conscious answers.

There were no miracles for me, or so I believed at the time. For my daughter there were many. For my Son, his escape physically unharmed was a miracle in and of itself. For me? I still live with survivor's guilt because I was so very far away when all of this went down at their school.

There were no overt signs that God was even listening when I tried to talk with him, especially when I looked back at how our personal lives suffered following the suicide of my first wife. I guess it would be fair to say I was just a little bit angry about what had come our way. But that might also be an understatement, too.

I'd struggled with my beliefs and my doubts ever since I was a child. None of that mattered now, though. Churches of many denominations came to our aid. None of them cared that my family wasn't of their church or religious denomination. Everyone pulled together and helped any way they could.

That's not to say there weren't any controversies. The crosses erected and torn down because they included the shooters who wrecked havoc on so many lives is just one example. There were many more I won't go into here because the one involving the crosses is a stickler for me, personally. And, no, I won't talk about it here.

Still nothing from God, though. Waiting, but no word. No sign. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Extreme gratitude for what everyone did? Very much so. Some kind of sign that God, somehow had a hand in all of this? Not so much.

One could say the churches and other organizations that did so very, very much for everyone affected were acting through God in doing their incredibly generous, caring aid and assistance. I guess that would be logical. I just wasn't feeling it, though.

I looked at the people who were doing all of this and marveled at their generosity, at their caring, at their genuine concern for us. Even shed some tears of gratitude for what they did for so long. For some reason, though, I didn't feel that that was coming from God. I saw it as coming from their own hearts through that free will so many now talk about when it comes to God's relationship with mankind....that free will that allows human beings to either be kind and loving to each other as is the case with most human beings. Or, that free will that allows some human beings to commit terrible, vicious, violent atrocities against some of their fellow human beings....like the shooters of Columbine, for example. That's what I saw. That's what I kept on seeing. And that's what I'm still seeing to this very day.

Wow, this is getting way longer than I intended it to. The reason I'm posting this here now, today, so long after the actual massacre we experienced is because I still feel a need to continue to try and find answers and to try to banish my own demons somehow regarding my own Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, my ongoing doubts about so many things, and my need for some modicum of closure of some sort.

Then, my miracle happened. Her name is Katherine. She is the one most important, singular thing that happened in my life that moved me forward, personally. She brought a sense of spirituality, of inner beauty, with her I had never experienced before. It didn't rely on religion. It didn't rely on a church. It was within her. She exuded spirituality and an inner beauty, and she shared both of them willingly with anyone and everyone she met, including me. This wonderful woman did more for so many than anyone will ever know except for a small inner circle of family and friends. Expressing gratitude to her for what she did, and continues to do for so many, both inside and outside our nuclear family just doesn't seem like it's enough somehow. She leads by example. She lives the kind of life she hopes others may be able to also live. And, more importantly than that, she tries every day of her life to help others realize their dreams for themselves. She is an extraordinary woman in so many, many ways. And I love her dearly for who she is and for everything she does.

Now, I'm going to ask some questions. I hope those reading this can find it within themselves to look at these questions honestly and contribute their own thoughts, perspectives, and experiences.

Question #1: When someone, anyone, suffers a traumatic event, is it commonplace for them to search out religion in their grief and their confusion? If so, why? If not, why not?

Question #2: Is it possible that churches, themselves, sometimes take advantage of those types of situations, or are their intentions pure in helping the way they do? Again, if so, why? If not, why not?

Question #3: If mankind has free will as granted by God, do some also use that free will to do harm to others secure in the knowledge their acts, no matter how heinous they may be, will ultimately be forgiven anyway?

These aren't easy questions to answer honestly. I don't know of any churches anywhere that don't have some level of outreach and charitable activities. But, in my experience, I also know of some churches that did some pretty awful things following the massacre that has come to be known simply as one word...Columbine.

I turned to religion for help. In doing so, one might say I found my own individual spirituality. It didn't ultimately include belonging to a church or embracing a specific religion or denomination. My spirituality is still under development thanks to those who love me as much as they do - my wife, my kids, my extended family and friends. And I do thank God for all of them.

Religion can, and much of the time does, include spirituality. They are not, however, mutually exclusive nor inclusive. From my perspective, the following is so very, very true:

And all of this is why I'm so confused and worried about the current situation at the U.S. Supreme Court. It's not limited solely to Roe v Wade being overturned. There are so many other rights at stake beyond abortion. If anyone out there thinks otherwise and that those rights are safe, I would posit they haven't been paying attention.

My two cents.....

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