In the dream, I'm running around this cruise ship, portholes on the side, mast, layers, the dream continued, and I kept trying to evade whatever it was that was chasing me--and no, I never saw it, but that desparate feeling of running for my life continued--the more I ran around the deck, the larger I became in comparison to the ship, and finally I ran to the center, climbed the mast, and fell. My arm pierced the deck and stuck. AND, by that time I was so big, I could look over the side of the boat to see through the porthole. What did I see? My hand was stuck because it was embedded in someone's head. I was horrified. Then the person says "oh no, not again!" That woke me up and the ridiculousness of the horrifying event happening more than once caused a dream to become a long time memory.
This week there was another school shooting. (if you can't figure out how the two relate, i'm shocked)
https://www.snopes.com/2018/02/16/how-many-school-shootings-in-2018/ click the link: no there have not been 18 school shootings in 2018 or 3 a week. Click the link and read the corrections and explanations.
The fact that school shooting is now needing a definition is ridiculous and horrifying.
For what most of us are thinking of when we say school shooting, there have been three this year.
22 January: Italy High School, Italy, Texas – A 16-year-old student opened fire with a semi-automatic handgun in the school cafeteria, wounding another student.
23 January: Marshall County High School, Benton, Kentucky – A 15-year-old student opened fire with a handgun on school grounds, killing two and injuring 17.
14 February: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida – A 19-year-old former student opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle, killing 17 and injuring 14.
Of course, it's the second week of the second month of the year.
There is lots of stuff out there about school shootings.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/04/10/school-shootings-through-years/100294510/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shootings_in_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers_%28school_massacres%29
But what do the people that choose to go into a school (and they also go into churches and theaters and clubs and hospitals and other crowded places: the choice is more about killing in a crowd that feels safe until they aren't than about it being a school, specifically. The place is chosen for a reason, though, just not all the same reason--it is loosely revenge for some version of a wrong, although racism and broken marriages and kids that made fun of you are not revenge-worthy to most of us.
http://www.thefrisky.com/2015-06-22/the-soapbox-what-do-most-rampage-killers-have-in-common-theyre-men/
The shooters are almost all men, and are mostly white men, although men may be an exaggeration as they range in age from puberty to elderly.
We could decide that men are dangerous. But that can't be all there is to it. I don't know a single, male family member that is rampaging killer.
So who are these people that see shooting whole groups of people as an answer to their own problems. (no, I'm not now talking about war and soldiers, that's it's own ridiculous horror)
https://www.livescience.com/21787-predicting-mass-shootings.html
Is it just who humans are?
There is some evidence that humans crave violence. It's part of our evolution and helped to keep us alive and keep us fed. It's why our parents were able to have us and why those that died from that violence are not still here.
And bullying is neither new nor rare. It's related to power and control and how we make sure that in the hierarchy we are toward the top and not at the bottom. I have personally heard both teachers and counselors discuss bullying as if it is not a problem and that the victims just need to toughen up. I am argumentative and when I questioned them, none of them were ever bullied but had participated in bullying behavior and saw no problems with that.
We stress out. That is soooo ubiquitous to us humans that it may seem unrelated to what is happening with these males that decide to start shooting, but since most of those studied had recently experienced "a series of disappointments", and we have all done stupid at least once in an attempt to relieve feelings of overwhelming stress, I think we should consider this as part of the problem related to these nightmarish shootings.
Is it mental illness--this one is tough as most people would call a person that goes on a shooting rampage mentally ill, but almost none of those individuals actually have a recognized mental illness anymore specific than depression.
Is it revenge? For not fitting in?for bullying? for not being recognized as a great ahlete or scholar or artist?
Is it because they are socially isolated loners? We always say things like, "he was never quite right" or "didn't have many friends" after the fact, but did we really say that before? (with serial killers, its always, he seemed so normal, nice, average--possible more related to why we didn't do anything to stop them, thus making ourselves complicit, than about how well we knew the serial killer)
https://www.livescience.com/14152-destructive-human-behaviors-bad-habits.html
AND, it doesn't only happen in the USA.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4wb9p3/mass-shootings-in-europe-in-2016
Or even Europe,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/mass-shootings/?utm_term=.5c9d754dd13c
So, what do they all have in common?
That's pretty easy.
They all had plenty of firepower.
Now for a moment of silence/ a prayer for the many victims, and then a two-step dance involving why we need a strong NRA and everyone should have at least a small arsenal--our second amendment rights are our most important you know.
This might be a great reason for homeschooling and avoiding large crowds.
Or maybe it's time to ask what the NRA has done for us besides sway candidates not to control weapons so they don't have their bottom line squelched. Let the NRA represent animal rights or sustainable farming practices for a while.
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