Trying to make Sense of the Senseless

Hello Everyone, I hope you are all doing well and looking forward to a new week. In the UK, there is great excitement about the Platinum Jubilee celebrations which mark the 70-year reign of Queen Elizabeth. It's a remarkable, probably a once-in-a-lifetime event, and whether or not you support the idea of having a monarch, I feel anyone who has been in public life that long, warrants some respect. But this post is not about the inevitable festivities, after all, to me, they make complete sense. No, this is about the horrific tragedy in Uvalde, Texas which has shocked the world. Before I go on, I will not be writing about the rights and wrongs of US gun control, that is a political issue and ultimately for the American people to make their own decisions. As I know I've said many times before, every country has its own culture, beliefs, and laws - whether or not they are the same as anyone else, really is immaterial and so to comment from the 'outside' isn't helpful. I will also not be discussing all the recent reports about the role of the attending law enforcement officers as the investigation is still ongoing, instead, this post is about just trying to make some kind of sense where it feels there is none.

As a mother myself who spent many years taking my daughters to school, I can truthfully say, it never occurred to me they would be in any danger. I would watch them walk through the gates and feel confident, they would be safe being surrounded by a professional, caring staff. In the UK, the only drills completed are those in the event of a fire, when the entire school population leaves the buildings and waits on the sports field until the relevant checks are done. I have to admit when I learned 'active shooter' drills are a part of a normal American school day, it was hard even to imagine but undoubtedly necessary. But despite those precautions, an 18-year-old man, carrying weapons, gained entry into Robb Elementary School. I cannot even pretend to know what must have gone through the two teachers' minds when they saw him at the classroom door. It's horrible to even try to picture terrified children watching their classmates being murdered in front of them. For the devastated families of all those who lost their lives that day, we can all only send our thoughts, sincere condolences, and hope their faith offers some comfort.

But why did this happen at all? I know social media is buzzing with alleged information about the man who committed this awful crime. Sadly, like many things, much of what has been stated as 'fact' has been proven to be less than accurate. On a side note, I think certain senators have issued such appalling comments, I hope they will face, at least some kind of sanction. Unfortunately, it would seem they are oblivious to the unbearable human tragedy preferring to focus on their own warped political agenda. I have absolutely no intention of naming any names, but it takes little more than the briefest of Google searches to find them. Their remarks are senseless and spawned from ignorance, doing nothing but encourage their own followers, to be even more prejudiced against one group or another.

But enough about them!

I'm not sure we will ever truly know why that man took the action he did, whatever his motivation, I think we can all agree, that there is absolutely no possible justification. Those young children were completely innocent and fully deserved the chance to lead happy and successful lives - that man brutally stole their futures and so whatever issues he may or may not have had, nobody EVER has the right to do what he did.

But tragically, this is not the first mass shooting in the USA, in fact, there have already been approximately 214 this year alone and we are only in May. Speaking only for myself, I find that figure completely shocking and it seems beyond belief, that nowhere is apparently safe. I was also stunned to learn even though US citizens make up just 4% of the world's population, 46% of the world's privately owned guns are in their homes. Again as a UK citizen, this seems like an astronomical figure especially, as in my entire adult life, I have only known no more than three gun owners, one was a farmer and the other two were members of a registered gun club where their weapons were permanently stored. They had only one gun each and were only ever used within the confines of the club grounds for sport, such as clay pigeon shooting or target practice. When not being used, the guns were kept under lock and key at all times, in keeping with government legislation. Now, obviously, there are criminals who illegally obtain firearms here but for the general public, it's a long and intensive process just to even get a gun license. If one is issued to you, there are countless rules and regulations regarding which weapons you're allowed to buy, how they must be stored etc. Gun suppliers also go through an exceptionally rigorous process, they're monitored by law enforcement and there are relatively few of them. Now even though I wouldn't want to own a weapon myself, I do find it comforting that all these rules exist as it feels as if, everything possible is being done to keep the general population safe. But as I said earlier, this is only in the UK and so how other nations treat guns in their community, is their choice and therefore should be respected.

However you might feel about weapon ownership, there is no escaping one single truth, what happened at Uvalde was the senseless murder of innocent people and despite having thought about it a great deal, I believe, there is no sense to be found. It just shouldn't have happened and I think we all sincerely hope, that whatever needs to be done to make this the last of these incidents, is done quickly and efficiently.

Finally, I am very fortunate to have a wonderful group on social media, some share pictures of their children and grandchildren, which is always one of my personal highlights. As we have known each other for some years, I've been privileged to see many of their achievements and have been constantly surprised by the passage of time when kids who were teenagers when I first met their parents are now grown with families of their own. I think when something like the Uvalde tragedy happens, it makes us all look again at our lives and reminds us all, we have no idea what might happen in the future - all we can do, is to try our collective best to make sure we are all there to see it.

Anyway, that's more than enough from me so please look after each other and until the next time...

Take very good care out there xxxx