Normally, I cannot go more than three or four days before writing again, but late last week, I was like the proverbial "deer in the headlights", and simply did not know what to say. The simultaneity of multiple mass shootings in America and the Jubilee in Britain was just too much. I am not sure that the weekend has improved ability to think clearly, but I'll give it a go.
There is not much I can add to the gun violence topic that hasn't been said, or that I haven't said in the past. So the following is, truly, "miscellany". I guess what mystifies me more than anything else is how thousands of years of religious teachings ("Thou shalt not kill", "Turn the other cheek") have led to this. But not just to these extreme incidents...to a culture so steeped in violence and conflict (and in its least overtly harmful form, competition) that we don't even recognize it for what it is. If there's a silver lining in the current moment, perhaps it is visibility. We cannot not see these events. It is an important teaching moment. Of course, there are widely varying interpretations of what is happening, but we can no longer pretend that we are some kind of idyllic "shining city on a hill". We can't put a bandage on the horror and cover it up.
Putting aside who uses these weapons, and what the laws should or should not be in this regard, I also need to say this. To me, to see a gun (even on display on a wall in a news report or advertisement) is inherently traumatizing and threatening. To know that there are more guns than people in the United States is inherently traumatizing and threatening. Weapons don't need to be "used" to be a source of violent energy. The question to be asked is, why do we create so many weapons in the first place? "Fixing" the smaller picture won't "fix" the larger picture...
I can't even talk about the Jubilee in the same post, so I'll save that for another day. One more snapshot of life in Duluth. The other day, I walked with a friend to the Rose Garden on the Lakewalk. It was beautifully sunny but, of course, cool near the water. My joke about this time of year is that you leave the house attired in: a sunhat and/or sunglasses, a short-sleeved shirt, a fleece jacket, capri trousers, wool socks, and walking sandals. (Or, back in the '90s, my other joke was, summer is when you get to unzip your parka. Climate chaos has made it slightly too warm for that now!) Anyway, the roses (not out yet, of course) have been lovingly tended, and I look forward to seeing them in bloom. Lilacs are starting to come out, trees are at that light green stage of leafy, and dandelions are rampant. Nights have been cold enough to cover plants, but I've decided, enough is enough, and starting tonight, I'm going to leave them to their own devices. A stretch of nighttime 40's and daytime 60's is predicted, so they should be OK.
Hmm, all in all, I'd rather think about roses.
