"No Change means No Change".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Simple, but powerful, words scrawled on a piece of cardboard and leaning up against a tree at a makeshift memorial by the side of the road.
For the second time in a week, in just 24 hours, the United States of America suffered another mass shooting.
Thirty people dead at the hands of two gunmen. Thirty lives destroyed and 30 families shattered.
And yet despite the people of America pleading for change to their gun laws... change is not what they are going to get.
Sitting in my car, it was hard to listen to an interview between a journalist and a female politician from one of the affected communities.
It was fascinating and disturbing to listen to the politician's running commentary about violent video games and her belief that they directly related to mass shootings.
She went on to give examples of some horrid sounding games available to anyone over the age of 12.
Then she spoke about mental health issues among young Americans as being a cause. This she also felt was a major contributor to the mass shootings.
Rightly so, the interviewer reminded the politician of the ages of the shooters, which in just the past few years was certainly not limited to "young Americans".
Then came the reminder that violent video games are played around the world not just in the USA, and other countries do not seem to see this type of bloodshed.
The interesting part of this conversation was the complete and utter refusal by this woman to even contemplate that perhaps American gun laws were a contributing factor to the horrific situation we see played out over and over and over...
She argued so passionately despite the fact she seemed so naive.
In what should be have been a final blow, the interviewer reminded this up-and-coming politician she was trying to get the endorsement of the mighty gun lobby, the National Rifle Association. But still she could give not one inch to the fact that perhaps the easy access to automatic weapons could play a part in the deaths of so many.
It suited her purpose, her personal goal, to truly believe guns don't kill people. She needs to believe this - it must be her truth.
For if it's not, what a social dilemma she would face in whether she can accept the endorsement of a major gun lobby and remain silent, or act to save lives and speak out against a major financial contributor.
With every aspect of our lives, if we feel something isn't right, or we are not happy with the direction we are headed, then something must change.
Sitting in the same spot, surrounded by the same people, doing the same thing always guarantees the same result.
