Struggling To Find Words

📷: Maria Fabrizio | Wordless News

It has been a rough week

"May we not just grieve, but give:
May we not just ache, but act;
May our signed right to bear arms
Never blind our sight from shared harm;
May we choose our children over chaos. 
May another innocent never be lost."

~ Amanda Gorman

Have you seen the list of schools where shootings have taken place?
The length itself is tragic. In truth? That chalk drawn map of the U.S. featured above should be riddled with many more bullet holes.  

Now, add to that list the other places where mass shootings have taken place in this country:

• churches;
• synagogues;
• grocery stores; 
• movie theaters;
• music festivals; 
• night clubs . . .

How long will the list of mass shooting locations become before we have the courage, and the collective willpower, to create change?

And, when we dry our tears long enough to look away from the most recent massacre, we see that mass shootings are a minority of the gun deaths happening every year in America. 

The mental health issues in this country are prolific and very real. These issues need expertise, love, compassion, and resources. 

America's mental health issues, though, are not unique. Sadly, our statistics of depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, etc. are mirrored around the world. (Read more, here)

However, there is another area where we undisputedly lead the world: guns.

Gun ownership. Gun violence. Gun Deaths.

(See 7 charts showing our relationship to guns, compared to other countries around the world, here.)

I believe in the U.S. Constitution, and that includes its 2nd Amendment. 

And, I believe in this nation's founding document that preceded the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence. This document declared our three unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  ​

---

Continue learning about our trauma, both individual and collective, by clicking here.