God, Guns, Guts, Glory: Part 2...."GUNS"

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 collectively taken a pretty consistent stand on the issue of guns every single time following high profile incidents beginning with Columbine and so many others following. In fact, I'm going to say right here and right now, too many.....WAY too many!

What does that have to do with Christian God, you ask? Let's take a look at some of the more famous, or should I say "infamous", things the NRA has espoused:

"The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun".

"Guns don't kill people - people kill people".

"An armed society is a polite society".

"Criminals don't obey laws anyway".

"Guns are only tools".

"I don't expect a fire, but I have a fire extinguisher".

"Responsible gun owners shouldn't be penalized".

"Law abiding gun owners shouldn't be penalized".

Oh, yeah, and one more very important one, at least in the context of this blog post:

"Owning guns is my God given right".

Seriously that is, in fact, a really, really important one. Why? Because guns didn't come into being until well after the Bible was even written.

So, the logical question would be if Christian-Muslim-Jewish God granted the right of anyone to own guns, where is that right actually written down by Christian-Muslim-Jewish God? Even if it's his word written by man? Where? The Bible, the Quran, or the Torah? Where? Where does Christian-Muslim-Jewish God say anything, anything at all, just one little tidbit will do, about him granting a right to anyone anywhere to own a gun? I'll just leave it at that for now.

So, because in the view of the NRA leadership it's a God given right to own guns, that pretty much translates into more guns. Guns everywhere. That's the answer. Schools. Shopping malls. Churches. On the streets. Restaurants. Bars. Anywhere and everywhere! Yep! More guns is the answer.

Did I say churches? Why, yes.....yes, I did!

You name it, guns are the answer. Push that fear and paranoia! More guns!

Getting off track here a little bit.

Back to the NRA.

One of the more iconic images I've seen is the one of Charleton Heston:

Oops. That's two images - one with a staff held high and the other with a musket held even higher. Both arguably weapons when used in the context in which they are presented, both in the movie "The Ten Commandments" and in the NRA convention Mr. Heston took part in.

Under Christian-Muslim-Jewish God, Moses was able to part the Red Sea allowing his people to pass safely and then closing it upon the advancing Egyptian Army causing the death of everyone, arguably thousands, by merely waving his magic staff which had been empowered by, you guessed it, Christian-Muslim-Jewish God. So, it wasn't really Moses who generated the power. It was Christian-Muslim-Jewish GOD!

Staffs, no matter how one wants to look at it, don't kill people. People with staffs kill people, people with staffs (Moses) powered by almighty Christian-Muslim-Jewish God.

Seems a little odd to me, though, because an omnipotent Christian-Muslim-Jewish God should maybe take at least some of the blame for this needless loss of life because he was the one who hardened Pharaoh's heart against those fleeing Israelites in the first place.

If he hadn't done that, the Egyptian Army wouldn't have been ordered into the Red Sea bottom by hardened heart Pharaoh to chase those fleeing Israelites and prevent them from escaping, now would they?

Just imagine. If Christian-Muslim-Jewish God had just NOT hardened Pharaoh's heart, the entire Egyptian Army would have stayed back, watched those pesky Israelites make their way to the opposite shore, the Red Sea would have closed back in, and everything would have been good. No loss of life. No mass execution. All things copacetic, right? What was Christian-Muslim-Jewish God thinking?

So, who's to blame here for Egyptian loss of life? Moses or Christian-Muslim-Jewish God?

But, I digress.

The year after the massacre at Columbine High School, Mr. Heston's words at the national NRA convention in May, 2000 in North Carolina, would ring out loud and very clear (sort of like his words to Pharaoh in the movie - "LET MY PEOPLE GO!"), and would pretty much become etched in our collective psyches for all time:

"So, as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away, I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed, and especially for you, Mr. Gore: 'From my cold, dead hands'!"

Mr. Heston apparently felt the need to use that same statement at every ensuing NRA convention until he retired in 2003. For some reason, it seemed to resonate with him, although I'm not aware of anyone actually coming to try to get his gun/guns during that time, or, for that matter, to try to kill him or to even try to take him up on his challenge, his dare.

In fact, when Mr. Heston passed away in 2008, was anyone there to actually pry that musket from his cold dead hands? Did he even try to take it with him? Wait. Was that a little too insensitive?

Personally, I don't think so. In fact, his words have inspired others to follow his "cold dead hands" mantra. I kind of have to be honest here - the cold dead hands thingy didn't even originate with Mr. Heston. No, it apparently originated with a group called "Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms". It really doesn't matter though. What matters is that the slogan became popular. It became etched into our daily lives. It was perpetuated by Moses (Heston in disguise).

From Moses to NRA President, Mr. Heston seemed to choose those kind of heroic roles, or they were chosen for him (NRA President, specifically) in which people could look to him and think oh my, what a great man! Kind of like a Christian juggernaut so to speak, even though Moses was anything but a 'Christian'.

And therein lies the gist of the point I'm trying to make about God and guns. There really does seem to be a connection between the two in today's American Christian Evangelical and more extremist sects of the Christian faith than many are willing to admit, either to themselves or publicly.

We talk about religious denominations all the time within the Christian faith. We also talk about sects breaking off from some of those denominations, but not nearly enough.

Why is it that so many who profess themselves to be Christians look with some amount of disdain at sects? Why is it that some who profess to be Christians look with some amount of disdain at members of other denominations for that matter? What actually separates denominations from sects within the Christian faith?

Muslim God recognizes sects. Jewish God recognizes sects. Neither talks about denominations - just sects. Can those sects be compared to so-called Christian sects such as Westboro Baptist Church as just one example? Does that even compute? What about the KKK? They profess to be a Christian organization. Both have been identified as hate groups. But to hear them tell it, they're God's children, just like everyone else. Yup. Uh huh. I'm buyin' it. I'd also go so far as to state there would be some pretty upset Muslim and Jewish folks if they knew they were being compared to those two groups, for sure.

And therein lies the conundrum. Christians look at American sects, A.K.A. hate groups like WBC and KKK, with utter contempt. When they do that, and they hear the word sect being representative of different groups within the Muslim and Jewish faiths, might it be possible they place "guilt by association" on the sects of Muslim God and Jewish God simply because of, well, sects = hate groups.

What that boils down to, as stated in my previous blog post (God, Guns, Guts, Glory: Part 1....."GOD"), is a failure to communicate what all of this really means. It's a logical fallacy. Christian sects = bad. Muslim and Jewish sects, therefore = bad. Not too hard to understand that connection, and, yet, it's actually a disconnect because the sects of Muslim God do not actually include ISIL or ISIS (whatever the Hell you want to call them), Al Qaeda, or the Taliban. Sects of Jewish God are even harder to pin down. The only radical sect I could find apparently doesn't even have a name, and at least in 2011 Israelites were pretty unified in denouncing them - publicly, no less.

So, the question must then be asked why are all the other sects of Muslim God and Jewish God so extremist in the eyes of mainstream Christian God's followers?

Could it be, could it possibly be because they're different from us?

Going back in time a ways for this next segment......

Quotes made by our Founding Fathers have been used and abused by both sides in our ongoing pro and anti gun advocacy arguments and debates.

Guns have been around for a very long time. No debate there.

Guns have also variously been used to conduct warfare, to commit crimes, to hunt, to provide for one's self defense, and a multitude of other things, both beneficial and barbaric.

Our Founding Fathers relied on guns during our very own Revolutionary War to secure our freedom and independence as a nation, albeit guns were kind of supplemented by cannons, now weren't they?

They even wrote the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution contained in the Bill of Rights:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Please note, there are two clauses to the 2nd Amendment - the first of which many in the pro gun advocacy group choose to, more often than not, completely ignore while focusing solely on the second clause.

So, one can state with pretty good confidence, the Founding Fathers knew of, and accepted the necessity of being able to keep and bear arms....at least during their time.

Times, however, have changed. So have temperaments regarding guns.

Some people just like to own them. Some people just like to hunt with them. Some people just like to shoot them.

Others, well, others use them for pretty nefarious purposes like actually killing other people. Or themselves. Lethal more often than not in more instances than we care to acknowledge.

However, facts don't lie.

Heck, just the homicide data is humbling, if not downright disturbing.

But guns don't kill people, or so we're told over and over and over.

Guns don't kill people. People kill people. With guns.

There are nefarious, shadow sects few people know about, sects based in their own Christian God dogma, sects that believe only in the Old Testament laws of the Bible, sects that really aren't organized in the truest sense of the word, sects that some people toy with but don't even realize they are part and parcel of.

And that's what we're going to talk about next......

Ever hear of something called the "Dominionist Movement"? If not, here's your chance. Learn about it, understand it, and, for all intents and purposes, be aware it is intimately linked with Christian God and guns.

There, I said it. Christian God and guns. Just as we, here in the U.S. equate terrorist groups of Muslim God with guns (pictures of masked marauders riding in the backs of pickup trucks with guns pointed in the air, pictures of a ring of masked evil-doers surrounding a man on his knees waiting for the machete to fall on the back of his neck), so, too, should we equate the possibility of genocidal killing, a new crusade of sorts, with those belonging to this group.

Religious discrimination? Yep.

Sexual orientation discrimination? Just listen to the rhetoric from some of those who've flirted with this philosophy.

Misogyny? Oh, yeah. Guys having a proclivity to keep women in their place really get off on this one.

Shall we try and put some faces to the Dominionist movement"?

Look familiar?

Add to all of this the fact these people have legitimate followings, and, believe me, I use the term "legitimate" very loosely here, and one must wonder how the slow, deliberate, eating away at our democratic, secular ideals might ultimately end up costing us dearly if one of these folks ever gets elected.

Now let's look a bit at each one of the Dominionists listed in the graphic above. First, Mike Huckabee. 

Mike once had Ted Nugent on his show.

Mike played a tune right alongside the Nuge. They played one of the Nuge's biggest hits, a sexually explicit melody called Cat Scratch Fever.

Mike, an ordained minister if I'm not mistaken, then doubled down on playing this song with Ted (Mike Huckabee pussyfoots around the truth) by stating the explicit words had been removed (video proved they were not) followed by his statement along the lines of it was for mature audiences. Yeah, right! And what was that he said about then President Obama's kids listening to lyrics sung by Beyonce'?

And:

Nuff said on good ol' boy, Mike!

Rick Santorum? Staunch supporter of gun rights and then some. As one example from one of his home town's media outlets: Former Pa. senator Rick Santorum said a lot of wrong things about gun control this weekend

Sarah Palin? Well, dang! There's Ted Nugent.......again! Palin pallin' around with the Nuge talking about, what? God? Guns? Getting elected, perhaps?

And, last on this particular list, but certainly not least, none other than Rick Perry? Oh, Rick of the woohoo fame, shoot a six shooter in the air at a public event fame:

Each one of these folks is very well known for their pro-gun stances. Each of them is also very well known for what some might consider to be their religious fervor. Each of them is politically ambitious almost to a fault. And, by the way, old Ted Nugent, alleged pedophile, has kinda sorta indicated he might even have some political ambitions (Heaven help us if he goes for it - or will Christian God forgive him his sins and make him a victor in an election?).

That's the short list. The long list would also include the likes of Michelle Bachmann, Ted Cruz, and, my favorite, Louie Gohmert.

There are plenty of groups, both affiliated with Christian churches and quasi-military militias that would qualify, too, and that would simply get on board with these folks if they are ever elected - groups, armed groups, well armed groups. Think about that. Seriously.....think about that.

When people talk about, and advocate for, taking our country back I invariably ask them, "take our country back from what, exactly?" This question is usually met with one of two answers:

1. Back to the way it was when it was one nation under God; or,
2. Back to the way it was when we had all our freedoms.

Logical question to the first answer, "whose God?" 

Them: Well, damn, there is only one God.

Me: So, Christian God. 

Them: Yep. 

Me: Well, what about Muslim God, or Jewish God, or any of the other multitude of Gods out there?

Them: ATHEIST GOD HATER!

Logical question to the second answer, "which freedoms have been taken away, specifically?"

Them: So many, I can't give specifics. 

Me: Why not? Should be an easy thing to identify if you're so upset they've been taken away. Right?

Them:

Me: ?

Them: ATHEIST GOD HATER!

And there you have it. A widespread call to put God back into everything American. Just can't be Muslim God, or Jewish God or any other God but Christian God. Those who worship those other Gods, not Christian God, are doomed unless they are born again, and by Christian God, we're going to either help everyone, or we're going to force everyone to believe in the one true God, Christian God, by golly! And if that force just happens to be deadly force like what Ted Nugent’s Final Solution For “Rabid Dog” Muslims is: “Kill ‘Em All”, then so be it.

Sounds sort of like this might all turn out to be another of those Crusades we learned about in school. In fact, we might even already BE in one right now.

What guts that takes, eh? In fact, those 'guts' are what I'll talk about in the next installment of "God, Guns, Guts, and Glory".

My two cents.



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Don't Make It Too Easy....

 

Given the recent shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, in which an 8 year old boy was critically injured and paralyzed from the waist down,

Six weeks after getting shot at a Fourth of July parade, an 8-year-old left paralyzed feels 'hopeless' and angry as new reality sets in

I thought it prudent to share just a tidbit of what my own family went through after Anne Marie, my daughter, was shot and also paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the Columbine massacre. I won't dwell on what she, and the members of her family went through as she went through a very long and very painful rehab at Swedish Medical Center and Craig Hospital except to say she was admitted to Swedish Medical Center on April 20, 1999, the day of the massacre, and was discharged into my care on August 15, 1999. You, the reader, can do the math on that length of time in order to better comprehend how difficult that rehab was and what we ALL went through to help her survive. During that time, my first wife, Carla, and I virtually lived with her in each of these two hospitals. It wasn't easy, but we did it....for Anne Marie. To this day, Anne Marie still does not know the full extent of what was done for her and our family to accommodate her and her disability. But that's fodder for another blog post another time.

All that being said, when it came to everything that followed the massacre, one thing sticks in my mind: The experts virtually ALL said, "Don't make it too easy." They were, of course, referring to Anne Marie and her effort to live what can only be described as an altered lifestyle given her paralysis, her healing from the gunshot wounds notwithstanding.

The first thing that came to my mind upon being told not to make it too easy for Anne Marie was how could anyone in their right mind even suggest to me not to make things too easy for her? I couldn't believe it. After all she'd been through, now I've got experts telling me not to make things too easy for her? She's in a wheelchair, for Christ's sake! She's been shot, dammit! It's a miracle she's even here, for crying out loud! Don't make it too easy for her!? What are you people thinking!? 

That was my initial reaction to being given this advice. It wasn't easy to have someone suggest to you not to make it too easy for your own child, especially given the circumstances of her being shot and critically injured at Columbine High School April 20, 1999.

But I had to listen; I had to take their advice seriously - not because of who they were as experts in their fields. Rather, I had to listen because they, themselves, often times had experienced traumas of their own; because they, themselves, were in wheelchairs because of paralysis, because of traumatic brain injury, because of Multiple Sclerosis, because of Muscular Dystrophy.

Anne Marie's injuries were serious, critical in fact. There can be no doubt about that. As her Father, I took that so much to heart, sometimes it was almost unbearable. It would, in fact, sometimes even cloud my thinking, hinder me from being as rational as I could be, or should be, about these things. But looking to these experts for help who had a ton more experience than I did with these types of medical conditions, who actually were experiencing their own life challenges as a direct result, gave me more than enough reason to heed their advice as much as possible, to finally be able to accept that Anne Marie can do this! Yes, she can, and so can we. So can I.

One such individual, a certified subject matter expert, came to our new house that would be renovated and modified to accommodate Anne Marie's disability. He was an expert in his field, that's for sure. His wheelchair was motorized because his paralysis also affected his upper body. At least Anne Marie's was below the waist, and she still had full use of her upper torso and arms. 

Anne Marie was still an in-patient at Craig Hospital when this gentleman, along with some therapists from Craig Hospital, and I met at the new house. I noted he was driving a specially equipped van with a lift. It was a mid-size van, no driver seat (his wheelchair became his seat when in the correct position), and the lift came out the sliding side door. I took note.

With some extra maneuvering, we were able to help him inside the house. The house didn't yet have a ramp for access through the front door, so we had to get him up two steps into the house. It wasn’t easy.

I don't know if my trepidation showed, or not (we hadn't yet gone through the extensive training at Craig Hospital that we would need to go through on what would be required of us, Anne Marie's family members, to accommodate her disability). He didn't indicate he was aware of my trepidation one way or the other.

Once inside, his recommendations came at us fast and furious:

• Open up the two guest bedrooms on the main level into one bigger bedroom (that would mean Nathan's bedroom had to go into the lower walk-out level - one would need to be added because the only area that was already finished was a rec room - the rest of the lower level was storage and was huge, so adding a good size bedroom for him shouldn't be too much of a problem, right?
• Open up the wall from the main bath into Anne Marie's bedroom (that would mean Nathan would have to use the bathroom in the lower level - luckily it had a shower, but was very tiny);
• Open the cabinet underneath the sink in order to accommodate her legs while in the wheelchair (note to self - must ensure the "hot" water tap line wouldn't pose a risk to her when her legs were under the sink - remember, she had no feeling in her legs);
• Cover the opening with a cloth drape;
• The shower must have a curtain, no glass doors;
• A flexible hand-held shower head would be best;
• Don't get rid of the tub (make her work to transfer from her chair into the tub);
• A shower seat would be good, but not absolutely necessary in this case because there is a ledge at the foot of the tub that she can sit on;
• Do not widen doorways - The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) specified doorways to fit the normal width of a wheelchair's base of 28". Most doorways are already 28" wide or wider. Leave the doorways as they are (make her work to get through them);
• Don't even begin to worry about scratches to the woodwork - rather, expect them;
• Carpeting is okay, hardwood floors are better (sometimes carpeting can be a problem for turning of a wheelchair if the pile is too thick. But it isn't something that should be a special consideration);
• Are your washer and dryer top loading? If so, get rid of them and get front loading;
• Furniture placement should consider spaces in between pieces wide enough to allow her wheelchair to pass between unimpeded;
• Leave the kitchen as is (make her work to use it).
• Don't lower any of the appliances or counter tops. She can turn sideways in her chair to be able to access the sink, faucet, and stove-top. A stove with controls on the front is a must; can't have her reaching across a stove-top to access anything just in case a burner might be on. A microwave oven should be face level in order for her to reach into it. Over the counter cupboards should contain only those things she won't need to access much, if at all. Everything else should be placed in the lower cabinets. The refrigerator/freezer should be a side-by-side with most of the things she needs placed on the lower and middle shelves;
• A stair glide into the lower level would be good, even if it takes up most of the stairwell (which it did);
• Carpeting in the lower level should have a very short pile;
• A ramp meeting ADA specifications would be a good thing if she plans to use the front door. If she plans to go into the house from the garage (if she starts to drive), a lift from garage floor level to main floor level will be necessary.

These are just a few of his recommendations. There were many others. Most of them were incorporated as part of the renovation. Some of them were incorporated later at my own personal expense. 

Driving instructors recommended a vehicle with hand controls, of course. They had us watch several individuals with similar paralysis to Anne Marie's where they would transfer into a car, reach out and remove one wheel from their chair, toss it over their back into the back seat, turn the chair and remove the second wheel, toss it over their back into the back seat, and recline as far back as they could to pass the seat of the chair over their chest into the passenger side seat. The instructors also indicated vehicles could be specially equipped to elevate the chair into a container on top of the car, or a van with lift would also work well. Their recommendation was, once again, to not make it too easy for her. Their suggestion was to get a smallish vehicle fairly low to the ground and have Anne Marie take it apart as in the first example. That would also require that the chair, itself, be made from materials light enough for her to be able to handle.

After several fits and starts, the vehicle she ended up with a specially equipped Ford F-250. More on how this became her vehicle of choice another time.

There are so many things to consider, and the things I'm sharing in this blog post are just a snapshot of the big picture. Throughout the entire process, I still had a lot of trouble with the possibility anything at all might be too hard for her. I wanted to make her life as comfortable as possible.

Something extremely important needs to be mentioned here, and I'll talk about it in later posts, as well:

While Carla and I purchased this house with equity from the sale of our older home when we realized that older home would not, in any way, shape, or form, accommodate Anne Marie's disability, virtually all the interior modifications made to the new house to accommodate Anne Marie were donated by organizations and individuals who wanted nothing in return, who actually, in some instances, even refused any offers of compensation for their charity. I can't even begin to express in words the gratitude I felt for their goodwill and caring. But it was, still is, and always will be deep and heartfelt. It is a debt I will never be able to fully repay.

There was not only gratitude, but relief, as well. For a long time, I worried about how much of an impact the cost of everything would have on the Trust I'd set up for Anne Marie. We didn't have GoFundMe back then, so these donations, along with monetary donations into that trust I'd set up for Anne Marie's long-term supplemental needs were crucial to us being able  to survive. Now I could rest a little easier knowing the impact would be much lower than expected. I also knew that most people in similar situations to hers didn't have the kinds of resources, both financial and community, coming to their aid that Anne Marie and her family did. 

I can only hope that Cooper and his family will have the sort of resources available to them that we had in our situation.

My two cents.....

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Active Shooter Lockdown Drills on Steroids

 

Active Shooter Lockdown Drills on Steroids

In March, 2018 East High School in Anchorage, Alaska put an active shooter lockdown drill they were conducting on steroids. 

They did this by having the school resource officer of East High walk the halls of the school while firing blanks to make the active shooter lockdown drill seem more realistic:  East High active shooter drill simulates real gunfire

They also did this to try and give students and staff a way to help discern the difference between actual live gunfire and firecrackers going off.

More than a few mass shooting survivors have opined they thought firecrackers were going off before they actually became aware something was drastically wrong. 

So, from that perspective simulating live gunfire with blanks during an active shooter lockdown drill seems like a reasonable thing to do, right?

Not necessarily – especially if one listens to those advocating against lockdown drills of any kind, and they are many. 

Meredith Corley, who taught math in Colorado in the aftermath of Columbine, says: “It (lockdown drill) re-traumatizes kids who have experienced violence. Getting the kids settled back into the work of learning after lockdown drills is a nightmare. That mind-set has no place in a learning environment.” (Taken from What Are Active-Shooter Drills Doing to Kids?).

Since the massacre at Columbine, lockdown drills have become a sort of gold standard without any 'real' standards when it comes to preparing staff and students for an active shooter in their school.

Most lockdown drills do not include simulated live gunfire, though. 

Was the East High lockdown drill over the top? 

Was it too realistic? 

Did it harm students rather than help them? 

Are active shooter lockdown drills even necessary? 

What we appear to be faced with is a ‘damned if you don’t – damned if you do’ conundrum: 

• If we don’t at least try to prepare for an active shooter, our kids won’t be safe, but
• If we do try to prepare for an active shooter, our kids might suffer psychologically.

What to do? What to do?

As Will Smith once said: 

Danger is real. 

Fear is a choice.

Do not misunderstand me. The fear that lockdown drills may be causing psychological harm may be real. Right now, though, that fear is still a choice especially if it paralyzes to the point of inaction of any kind.

My two cents....

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