The headline of The Seattle Times this morning screamed “Unimaginable!” atop the story of yet another horrific mass shooting in our country. I read the article completely and ruminated on it throughout my work day, trying not to let it distract me. As the last horror of Las Vegas had distracted me just a short month ago on another sad, blue Monday. On that day it turns out I actually knew someone who’d been shot, fighting for her life in a hospital. The first time that one of these tragedies had hit me personally.
Now as the reality of Sutherland Springs sinks in along with the setting sun I beg to differ with The Seattle Times.
Unimaginable? Really? After Columbine nearly 20 years ago? After Blacksburg Virginia? After Aurora Colorado? After Sandy Hook? After Charleston South Carolina? After Orlando? After San Bernardino? After Las Vegas? After so many other mass killings that have left me numbed and disgusted? When after each and every one we seem to have some brief national reckoning but then only to slip back to sleep? Where our so called leaders offer prayers instead of acting on the insidious and crazy gun culture of the country?
Why is what happened on a Sunday morning in a church in Texas so unimaginable? Not to be hardhearted, but I can certainly imagine it and even more horrific events like it in the future. This is sadly the reality of our sick nation one year after the pivotal election that brought a narcissist, misogynist and racist to The Whitehouse. Welcome to Trump’s America. Where facts don’t matter and where Nazis are on the same plane as peaceful protesters.
Now I’m not blaming Trump for these tragedies. We were having them long before he became the Tweeter in Chief. What concerns me though is that he and his supporters have lowered the bar for what is shocking, such that as he utters some inane same old same old “we have to come together as a nation” bullshit and rhetoric I think to myself “who the hell are you? Are you that out of touch? You’ve done nothing but driven the seeds of division and discontent in our country. How do you look in the mirror each day?”
I really don’t know what the cure is to the creeping illness that has befallen our great nation, but I do know that I am appalled with it every single day! I do know that I am ashamed about it every single day. And I do know that I worry about raising my children in this country every single day.
So yes, sadly it’s not unimaginable. In fact I can imagine the next horrific tragedy.
Tell the truth, can’t you?