Guns and People

I woke up to the horrible news that a guy had gotten into a movie theater, let out a gas bomb and then decided to start shooting people, why? no one knows. It is saddening what happened yesterday, hard to believe that now people can't even go to watch a movie in peace because some whack job might go in and start shooting them, everyone that was inside that theater and their families my heart goes out to you, I can not imagine how you must be feeling at the moment.

What is even more saddening is how many people have started with the blame game, others have started with the judging game, instead of shutting up and just praying or sending positive energy to these people who really need it, instead of being sympathetic people have decided that it is a good time to blame the government, blame the police and judge the parents who were in the movie theater with young children. To those who have decided to judge and play the blame game here is my thoughts on that:

• Guns don't kill people! The rifle and the hand guns that killed and injured the people in the theater were held, pointed, and fired by one individual, a human being; without this human pulling the trigger the guns (which are inanimate objects) would not have harmed anyone. On that note, people will say things like "well if we had more gun control then he would have not been able to get the guns and use them" think again, you can't control a person from doing something they want to do, they will do whatever they feel like doing, most people are worried about the consequences of their actions, people that kill do not care what happens to them, they have no emotion, no sympathy, no feelings at all, therefore the consequences are meaningless to them. We can have as many laws as you want to try and control who buys a gun and who doesn't the truth is that if it was not a gun he would have used something else, all he wanted to do was harm people, no matter how. He was also an honor student with no criminal record, no violent tendencies, so even if we had something in place to try and control more who was able to get a gun and who was not, he would probably be one of the few that would pass the test and would end up being able to get one. It is a sad reality but that is the truth, there are people out there that will always break the law, that will always try to commit a horrible crime, and that don't mind the consequences of their actions.

• After the whole guns kill people debate, what did I see next? Ohh yeah, why would a parent bring a 3 month old to the movie theater, why would a parent bring a 6 year old to a movie theater to watch that movie that a 6 year old should not be watching in the first place and what's worse why bring them at 12 in the morning to a premiere of a movie. Give me a freaking break!!! I would love to know who wrote the laws on how to raise your children, and what you can take them to see or not and at what time you can take them out of the house and at what time you can't. Yes there are certain standards as far as what the responsibilities of a parent is and there are certain standards as to what a parent should not do like neglect their child, hit and abuse their child (this includes psychological abuse) but nothing in those standards say whether a child belongs on a movie theater and at what time or at what age is appropriate. As a parent myself I can say that whenever I watch a movie with my 4 year old I always tell her that it is just a movie, it is not real and therefore she should not expect or act in real life like she sees in the movies. I am confident to say that my daughter knows exactly the difference, she knows Mickey Mouse talks because is the magic of TV and that's it.

I told a friend today that when my daughter was first born I never went out, I stayed home, partly because I never wanted to leave her with anyone, I did not feel confident to leave my child with a stranger, even if they passed background checks, I got a job as a nanny of a ten year old and I was able to take my child with me, I did not make a lot of money but it worked for me because I knew my daughter was well taken care of and no one would do anything to her that she would not be able to tell me. The first time I left my child for one day was when she was 2 years old and she was left with my sister who knew her schedule, knew how I was raising her and followed my instructions. After that time the first time I actually hired someone I did not really know was when she was 3 years old and she had an extensive vocabulary so she was able to tell me if they did something bad to her and she was only left for a couple of hours.

But that is just me, that is how I decided to raise my kid, I decided that worked for me and no matter what as long as a parent is not purposely putting their child in harm's way, then they are being responsible. A 3 month old was probably sleeping throughout the movie until the shots were fired and people started panicking. I can't testify as to why the parent took the baby to a late showing or to that movie even, but I can assure you one thing, every time the parents of the baby that got harmed and those who did not get harmed close their eyes they will think about what happened that night, and they will think blame themselves for going to that movie theater, they will take responsibility for another person's actions and say it was their fault that their baby got harmed because they could have waited another day to go see the movie, I think that is punishment enough for them, they don't need anyone else throwing judgement at them, no one can say to another person that they are not a good parent, there is not such thing as a good parent or a bad parent, the only ones that will decide whether you were a good parent or a bad one are your children, everyone else can put you in two different categories: a responsible parent or an irresponsible one and to me as long as you are not neglecting your children (keeping them up late does not constitute neglect) you are a responsible parent.

So, I hope that we don't forget that what happened today is no one's fault but the person holding and shooting the guns and rifle, I hope that those injured don't blame themselves for what happened, I hope that the Spirit gives them clarity of mind and helps them over come what happened. I hope that they can find peace again and feel safe, I know at the moment many people not only those who were victims of the tragic incident feel unsafe, myself included, but I truly hope that we can all find our way to peace and sanity, not to forget the victims but to forget the fear, to be able to remember that there is still good people out in the universe and the good people are who make a difference in this world and we should all be thankful for them.

I hope we can all be shown that even when tragic things happen there is always a reason for it, we might not understand it at the moment, in fact we might not understand it at all but there is always a reason, the best one is that every time something tragic happens, every time a person dies, especially young people, we are reminded of how we don't know how long we have here in this earth and with our loved ones, so it is a good reminder that we should not fight over petty things, that we should forgive people who have harmed us in the past, that there is no reason to hate others because hate only harm us not anyone else, that in life is the little things that matter is not the money that you take with you is the memories of your life and true happiness is achieve when you have made a difference whether it is with yourself or with others. I hope all of you are reminded of this, that there should not be time spent judging others, everyone has a different way of suffering and living their life, even those who commit crimes, they remind us of what is important, as sad and as tragic as it is, and as angry as it makes us, they do remind us of what good is.

My heart goes out to the family, friends and victims of that horrible tragedy, no one deserves to be hurt, harm, or scared in such way. May the Spirit enlighten your path, made the Spirit heal the wounds that this tragedy has left for many people, and may you all come together setting judgement aside and supporting each other like we Americans usually do, let's remember that there is only one person to blame for what happened, and that he could have picked any where else to do what he did and hope that he does find remorse in his heart and is brought to justice.