Enough with the hand wringing, finger pointing, and moral outrage that is just as effective as “thoughts and prayers.” The deep, dark truth of it all is that we just don’t care enough to do anything about it. Period!
Oh sure, we jump on social media to declare our outrage. Democratic senators talk about a national gun registration, Republican senators talk about putting more armed gunmen in our schools for “protection” but we really don’t care. Want proof? Every voting cycle, we compromise and vote for those who will maintain the status quo if they are Democrats. We vote for the Bidens of the world because the Sanders and Warrens scare us because … gasp … they might try to change things.
Meanwhile, the right wing becomes more ludicrously extreme as we rush to the right in this country. The real power in this country laughs at us turning on each other. Every time we find a reason to not raise the minimum wage or cut back on crisis unemployment benefits or restrict health care, we cause added stress in American households. Every time we walk past a homeless person and not see him or her, we add to the national crisis. At the same time, “red” states ease up on gun restrictions while adding restrictions for voting, women, LGBTQ etc. and we accept it.
We don’t really want change if it will affect us. In fact, we have exactly the country the majority of voters want. The only innocents are the 19 murdered children who were not responsible for their parents’ actions or inactions. In perhaps the most important election in our lifetimes, 36% of eligible voters did not vote in 2020. They have a million reasons, mostly that it won’t make a difference, and then the rest of us get mad. But, the rest of us caused this by consistently voting for status quo. Meanwhile, we have probably lost this country for good, so it’s hard to fathom the attraction for the status quo. Can we turn this around? I doubt it.
I pray that my grandchildren, nieces and nephews don’t have children, particularly if they are living in this country. I fear even more for my nieces and my grandkids who are women. I can’t imagine what it will be like for them in 10 years. Want to know who caused this to happen? Look in the mirror. I am!
Art Ames lives in Greenfield.