@lovendures The wave of copy cat shooters just ooze out of the woodwork. I read today of an incident in West Virginia where a celebration/party/gathering was being held for graduating students and a man was racing his vehicle through the apartment complex.
He came back later with an AR-15 and began shooting in to the crowd. There was a woman there, who pulled out her piston and shot and killed the would be mass shooter.
I pray for her tonight...that she knows she saved many lives...even as it hurt to have to take a life.
It did not say.. but I suspect she was an off duty LEO.
In my meditations today I saw a bright beautiful expanse of grassland, like one sees in Montana, with fluffy white clouds and a strong wind blowing, blowing, blowing across the land... the shadows of the clouds racing across the land between the bursts of the suns rays.
There was an immense quiet and only a few deer grazing, no people. To me?Deer symbolize gentleness tempered with strength , the healing power of love and forgiveness, and their grace even when running away from a predator, and their innate intuitiveness and attention to details.If they have to exit a dangerous situation they do so gracefully and quickly.
From that I garnered the message that the winds of change are blowing, be alert, listen and act with grace and speed and courage when called upon.
Right now I am changing my stance on things and using my Twitter platform to be more vocal - because in an effort to not alienate anyone there I’ve avoided being too vocal about my views but I simply don’t care anymore. If more people stay quiet like I was there… silence and inaction are complacency.
The other thing I’m doing is targeting one voter in particular very hard. My mother. She was a lifelong democrat (and former union president) who went all in on TFG. Twice. While I love my mother, when we’ve gone down the path of discussing politics it’s gotten ugly. Very, very ugly. But for the past two weeks I’ve been texting her a new article from a reputable source every time something new happens. I had to explain to her why Roe being overturned could have resulted in her not having ever had her grandchildren (my twins were a product of IVF which, given Michigan’s existing anti-abortion law that Roe is suppressing, would essentially wipe out). This was a turning point. Today, in response to Texas I finally got her to listen on gun control. I’m going to de-program this woman before she leaves this plane. (Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I can’t go there anymore)
My very red state congressional district up north has a Democratic candidate running for the first time in forever. I joined her campaign last night (and got to meet the amazing Dana Nessel at her kickoff event!) I cannot go door to door in my area. I am surrounded by militia. Several neighbors were at the Capital. Several others were arrested in the Whitmer kidnapping plot. But I’ll use the texting software. I’ll write postcards. I’ll donate to her campaign. This one is futile - Northern Michigan will never flip.
But I will not go quietly into these midterms. I. Will. Not.
Sorry for the gloom and anger permeating everything I’ve posted this week. I just can’t take any more of this.
@dannyboy Oh Dannyboy - sending big hugs and seeing you wrapped in a blanket of warm, loving care. The hurts are big aren't they. So many, so fast, and hitting so hard.
Not everyone can lead the parade, some must stand , watch and clap. Everyone has a role to play and do what they can do - the very intent itself sends a wave of Energy in to the Collective and that helps bring about change and healing.
I am a survivor of domestic violence. Back in the early 70's? "What goes on between a husband and a wife is their business and theirs alone" "Keep your dirty laundry at home" I was beaten and abused for the 15 months it took me to break free and even after the divorce was final there were years of domestic terrorism and manipulation. I did everything I could to further the cause for women..still do. I donate to shelters,mothers with children and pets and foster pets for people, taking some in to my home that needed a soft place to land and hide out... help heal by listening and validating and sharing experiences. Advocating and voting for women's rights, women's protections. No.. I was not in a protest, I didn't march.... but I quietly did my part. I was a single mom that raised 2 kids without enforcement of child support, health care or educational funds. I was paid minimum wages and worked long hours.. came home and worked more, caring for my children, cooking meals, cleaning clothes and home, helping with homework, taking to functions they could attend without too heavy financial price. Thank God for good teachers, after school programs, libraries and Scouting and Band and cheerleading , Drama Club and Science Clubs and more.
Thank God for the good teachers who cared and helped with guidance to resources and help with funding and who loved my children as fiercely as I did.
Thank God for the DannyBoys and those like him.. who care and pour themselves out in to small bodies and young minds... and.... who choose to do what they can to speak their peace and their hearts.
Said with agape and genuine appreciation. You matter, you make a difference, I see it, I appreciate it and hold space for you as you grieve and take action.
I took to FB this morning and wrote a small passage on empathy. On taking a moment to understand what the victims went through. I talked about the students and what their last moments must have felt like. I talked about the teachers and the pain they would have experienced watching this happen to their students.
And finally I talked about the parents standing outside listening to the gunfire.
I then took an image of that and posted it on many threads on Twitter.
I am angry. Anyone who feels empathy is angry right now. I feel like part of the key right now is to not let the public shy away from those feeling of empathy. People will run from pain, none of us want to experience it. But when the words are poignant enough sometimes they will briefly empathize with the victims.
That empathy is the key. If you feel for someone, if you empathize, then you can no longer ignore that they are linked to you, that they are your brother or sister in spirit. It humanizes them.
Use your words, plant the seed of empathy. The more seeds of empathy we can plant, the more light we can bring. It is the very small part I can do. And deep inside I know, as much as some people want to ignore it, those who are not psychopaths will be bothered by my post and the seeds will grow.
@april @DannyBoy @JourneyWithMe2. Your posts are music to my ears. After Sandy Hook, I could hardly get over the tragedy and my depression. This time, I am outraged. I, too, am posting on FB a great deal and plan to keep it up. I'm asking for people to pledge not to vote for a single Republican until s/he refuses NRA money, backs background checks, signs on to ban assault weapons, and works in a bipartisan way to pass strong, meaningful legislation. It's spreading a bit. As for twitter, I'll do that to. If those of you who are already firing away on twitter have significant hashtags, please post them here and I'll jump on the wagon too. I'm convinced that until the Republican Party starts to lose membership and congresspeople over this, they will continue to tie themselves to guns and more guns.
@journeywithme2 bless you my friend. I teared up a little and felt the light you sent. I needed that. I really, really did.
@seeker4 every school shooting has affected me - as a teacher, as a father, as a human being. But I remember Sandy Hook specifically. The news broke while I was at work, my new job...not when I was still in the classroom. And I sat at my desk, helplessly watching the news reports. Sobbing quietly. I reached out to some former students. I promised them that if it had happened to us I would have taken an entire magazine of bullets myself to keep them safe. All of the shootings are terrible but Sandy Hook was ... something else entirely.
This one also feels different. I don't know if this was my reading from last year - where something happens around now and throughout the summer that hits at our core as a society. This feels like it could be part (but not all) of it. What a terrible thing to have read if this is part of it. I see now why my higher self wouldn't let me poke into it and get to the bottom if it is part of what I read. This is beyond comprehension. And the fact that the NRA is still holding their conference. That TFG is speaking, butchering the names of the children right now while the NRA rings that damn bell for each one.
This is wrong.
I will say it again.
I will NOT go quietly into these midterms. I will not.
Light and Love my friends. Light and love.
@dannyboy bless you, my friend.
The good news about the National Rifle Assholization conference today, was that there were actually more folks outside protesting it than there were inside attending it.
I hope that every one of those 19 cops who sat there for an hour gets called out. Until then, here is the email for the mayor of Uvalde- you may recall that he was the one who called Beto a "sick son of a bitch" when Beto called out Abbot's complicity, and "politicized" Abbot's political event, just after the shooting.
and here is the Uvalde Chief of Police:
So feel free to write them, and tell them how much you appreciate first
last responders. And maybe send them some white feathers of cowardice, or whatever you think they deserve.
Reading and hearing about Miah's story during the mass shooting has brought me to tears repeatedly today. Not only did she endure unspeakable trauma which I can't and won't write about here, she also was the repeated caller to 9-11, politely saying "please send police now". Today after learning police had waited outside the school she started crying, saying she just didn't understand why they didn't come inside and rescue them.
Yes, something has changed with this one. Not only is it on the scale of Sandy Hook, the ineptitude of police leadership is just mind boggling. The lying, the cowardliness, the betrayal of trust. Over and over and over again.
Dannyboy, you are not the only one who is now going vocal. My husband is also going vocal which is not typical. National figures are as well. The manager of the giants refused to got out of the dugout for the national anthem.
And boy on Twitter you should hear the furious nurses chewing out the police for how they responded, comparing police inaction because they were waiting for protection to when nurses willingly took care of covid patients before vaccinations with little to no PPE for protection from possible death from covid.
Here's a song by cheryl wheeler- "if it were up to me...i'd take away the guns"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op7agdIFOGY
@dannyboy, @unk-p, @lovendures, things sre different this time. Women and the feminine have been rising as we've talked about here. Moms are fed up with the lack of security for their children. The cops refused to go in after the children, but one mom tried to go in, got handcuffed, got released, and went in any way to save her kids. The link is to yahoo news, which has the story & a link to the original story on WSJ -which is behind a paywall.
At NRA protests, watch the women who are fed up step up & stop a man trying to be disruptive.
Abbott attended a fundraiser 300 miles away on the night of the shooting. He was clueless and it showed. This is why he's been canceling other events like attendance at the NRA conference- because he became aware of the optics after previous backlash. Not because it was the right thing to do. He's not fooling everyone, just those with blinders on. Beto's questions at the press conference showed what the current officials are like to the public. They can't change that.
Women are fed up- especially after the assaults on their rights, and now failing to protect children? This isn't to say that men aren't fed up too, just that women who previously wouldn't have responded to toxic masculinity are now saying, "Really? Watch this."
Oh, the times, they are a changin...
Thank you all for choosing to up your fighting in whatever way possible.