On Hitting Your Limit
Living in the world today is hard, really hard. It feels like there’s rarely any good news, and whenever there is, it’s quickly drowned out by whatever today’s atrocity is. From climate disasters, to war, to mass shootings, and the constant mistreatment of workers by major corporations, it can be hard to simply function some days. And yet, we find a way, because we’re used to it, because we have to. But then, every once in a while, things just get so bad that it breaks through that mental and emotional wall we’ve all built and it really shakes you. In that moment you realize you’ve hit your limit.
I know that for myself, and many others, the recent mass shooting in Uvalde, TX was one of those moments. An act so horrific and so terrible that I couldn’t fall back on my normal reaction to mass shootings (and isn’t it atrocious that we have normal reactions to mass shootings these days?) of momentary despair before shaking my head at the state of things in this country and just trying to soldier on with my stupid job writing stupid jokes. No, this time, it just kinda broke me.
I remember a time before these kinds of mass shootings were a daily occurrence in America. Growing up a Millennial, I spent most of the formative years of my life during the 10-year period of the Federal Assault Weapons ban from 1994-2004. During that time period, the schools I attended went on lock-down a single time when a maniac walked down Wilshire Blvd. wielding a shotgun, mere blocks away. Thankfully no one around me was hurt. In 2004 however, the Federal government let that ban lapse. A study found that from 1981 to 2017, mass shooting fatalities were SEVENTY percent lower during that 10 year ban.
Our country’s current relationship with the gun lobby, weapons manufacturers, and the military industrial complex as a whole is deeply broken and every day leads to the deaths of more innocent Americans. Don’t get me wrong, I respect Americans’ rights to own a gun. I understand the second amendment. My mom owns a target shooting shotgun. But the fact that an 18-year-old can walk into a store on a whim and walk out with a weapon of war, when they can’t even buy a beer, is insanity.
Anybody who tells you it is you god given right to buy a military grade assault rifle without any checks and balances, any oversight, any accountability is a bad faith actor who doesn’t believe the lives of Americans are worth saving. Those politicians are the same ones who walk around with armed guards, who live in gated communities, and who work in the most tightly secured buildings in the country. Their lives aren’t touched by violence the same way everyone else’s are.
So, what will it take to affect real change? Will we have to wait until every American has had to deal with the loss of a loved one at the hands of a mass shooting? Will we have to wait until every American has had to barricade themselves in a room and wonder if they’ll survive?
We’re living in hell right now, and nobody seems willing to do anything about it.
Yep, it reminds me of the experiment where they put a bunch of frogs into a beaker, and slowly raise the temperature until they boil: They don't perceive the mortal threat until it's too late. And the irony is that more people got worked up over the poor amphibians than the higher mammals who are being mowed down at a frightening pace. The solution has to be replacing the old, worn out, sold out politicians with new ones who aren't a wholey-owned subsidiary of corporate America. We all have the potential power to change course, if we can get over our less-crucial differences (like race and type of employment) and see ourselves as members of the same group: decent people who want to see a decent world, and leave it to our kids. I hope your followers are all among that category, because, what else can us older farts do but encourage you to carry on the struggle to be merely decent humans in all aspects of your lives. Be of courage, and good luck to you.
This is really hard for me. And I feel so terribly powerless. I vote, I march, I protest, I donate, and still, children die.