A few months ago we decided to do away with tv. When I mean tv I mean local braodcasts and cable. We switched to streaming which enabled us to pick and choose what we wanted to be interested in...therefore eliminateing our chances of being exposed to too much (I will say this frankly) bull shit. We do not miss the news. I actually stopped watching the news after 9/11. I was working in a child care at the time and was not only stunned, but angered, that the care givers turned the news on tv, and on the radios, and let it play continuously, all day, in front of the children. I went from room to room (being the Curriculum Director at the time) and politely explained to all the care givers why this was inapporpriate, and to please turn it off. For weeks and months later children were building block towers and crashing planes into them...not kidding, really happened. Where am I going with this?
This last week we were confronted with another historic tragedy in America. The shootings at Sandy Cook Elementary in Newtown Connecticut. In all tragedys, that include children, the crime suddenly becomes much more real. Take an adults life and we can all justify it a little easier. Their time had come; they lived a full life. It is far harder to say this about children.
It is human nature to look for someone, or something, to blame; other than ourselves. So we naturally turn to the person (or persons) who committed the crime. But something funny happens...after we start looking for the reasons why anyone would committ such hurt, and sorrow, on an innocent person(s) we start to realize that the answers are not so clear cut. Well of course theyre not, we're dealing with people. Even the most qualified, expert on human nature, or society, or psychology, human development; basically anyone very knowledgeable in the human sciences, will tell you that the social sciences are not an exact science. Ironic isnt it. No one can ever really know what is going on in another persons mind, heart or soul. So where do we go from here?
Well... then we blame the weapon. We cant control people, but we can control guns. We cant control planes crashing into the twin towers, but we can control who is getting on them and what is being brought onto the planes. We cant control the person who makes a bomb, but we can control where he got the information. We cant control mental illness but we can control the medications....or can we? uh oh I guarentee the one common thread that every mass murderer has in common is some kind of mental, and/ or emotional instability.
Timmothy McVae who killed 168 people including one whole child care filled with children, younger than the ones at Sandy Cook Elementary, was not dealing with a full deck. Ordinary people do not do what he did. Ordinary people do not fly planes into sky scrapers and government facilites, and ordinary people do not shoot people in movie theatres, gymnasiums, universitys, colleges, OR elementary schools.
Why are we seeing more of this? Is it the news? Did this really all go on before mass media and now we are just more aware of it? I have strong opinions regarding the news. Most news stations are not in the business of news; they are in the business of money. The more sensational they can make anything so called news sound the more viewers they get; which means more money. You never hear about any great news reporting coming out of some small remote town; why? NO MONEY! Is the news even equal in their broadcasting of happy, great accomplishments from random normal people? No...there's no money in it. People won't watch it. As a whole the norm is not interested in the facts, or even the truth, they want to be entertained.
When I wanted to find out the facts concerning the shooting I did not watch the news...I went to the internet, and with all due respect to the internet, information, even on computers, does not travel that accurately, that fast, so even my internet research was limited by choice and I have not researched anything for the last 24 hours. After about a week I will check stuff out, and even then I am not going to go to any well known major news sites. They will all have the same thing to say for entertainment purposes. Want the real information? Search out those people who are accused of being paranoid conspiracy theory freaks. Yeah I admit some of them are a little off the wall. But heres the thing. It takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch. If you take the time to read through things you are going to find the truth. If you are wise about our government, and how it runs, it doesnt take a brain surgeon to figure out what is really happening. Which leads me to the real reason for this blog.
Perhaps the reason we are seeing more incidences of this is because of the increase of persons taking medications to address so many of their so called issues. There is a pill for everything these days. Over 60% of the clients I use to help were depressed, and or suffereing from anxiety. One 8 year old boy had a dual diagnosis of bi-polar and schizophrenia; this is impossible by the way. Go look up why a doctor would make this diagnosis on an 8 year old child, what you will find will shock and horrify you. We take a pill to suppress eating, to encourage our apatite, to sleep, to stay awake, to concentrate, to relax, to make us feel happy, to keep us from feeling too happy. Basically what the doctors, who are paid by the pharmacuetical companys are doing is teaching us to be very...grey. Unfeeling, unquestioning, people...sound extreme? Mabey...but ask your self what was the last pill you took and why and could you have found a different way to deal with what was challanging you? Then ask why did I take that pill when I am aware of the alternatives?
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db42.htm
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmaris/2012/07/24/1-in-3-american-adults-take-prescription-drugs/
We have become a society of take a pill to make it better, make it easier, make it quicker, make it last longer. We rush through conversations, we hurry through meals, run to work, race home, watch at least 4 programs on tv with in a two hour period (not remembering what they were really about), engage in very little meaningful activitys that truely make a difference; and then we wonder why we cant sleep, feel depressed and are full of anxiety. So we take a pill. Seriously people. When was the last time you sat quietly, and watched a tree just do what it does? Or dont you have time for something that was probably here before you, and will most likely still be there after you are not. Trees bend in high winds....they don't take pills.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml
To make things very sad our level of love and compassion towards each other has reached (in my opinion) an all time low. Many people (In my cozy little facebook corner of the world) have been posting their opinions on the recent shootings. One stood out for me. It basically said, there were signs, I guarentee it but no one noticed....I agree with this and I weep for us all.
I have stated it before and will continue to do so; the quickest way to make someone feel alone and helpless is to lend no support to them. I dont think the American public, in general, is aware of how many people out there are in need of something as simple as someone to listen to them, or just a hug. NOT everyone needs a pill!!!
http://www.traumaregister.co.uk/Articles/Human_Health_Contact.htm
The pharmacuetical companys do not really care if they are helping anyone! Their primary concern is to make money! If this was not true then HOW can they pay pharmacuetical salespeople at least $75,000 a year? In any profession that is truely people orientated, where love, compassion and doing what is best for human kind is the focus WE ARE ALL POOR AS SHIT!!! So WTF people!! Where exactly is your focus these days and your loyaltys? (Got that out of my system...) When you take a pill you are making the rich richer. How about supporting the poor and just care? So much cheaper, so much more full filling.
http://www.myplan.com/careers/top-ten/highest-paying.php
http://www.myplan.com/careers/top-ten/lowest-paying.php
When someone succeeds in performing such a devestateing, horrific act I guarentee he, or she, has reached the deepest darkest depths of being human. We are all capable of this...push anyone too far, to the brink of sanity or survival and you will be surprised at what you are capable of doing. Ask any abused mother who escaped her abusive husband. Very few people are born sociopaths, and they are identified pretty early on. The red flags for this are obvious. It is very rare that a true sociopath is walking around among us un monitored and if they did fall through the net it is because someone, some where said nothing! So for anyone to suddenly look upon society as full of evil is...well sad really. When we dont identify the true facts behind any event we are not progressing as a person, or society.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/150464/americans-believe-crime-worsening.aspx
Here is something else that is sad. There was a blurb, some reporter with not enough information shared that the gunman may have had aspergers. !!!! WHAT!!! Now suddenly one out of 100 children (which is the supposed number of children with aspergers of varying degree's in the U.S.) are going to suddenly be a threat to every public school in America! Do you know how many children this is? You watch...its going to happen. Uninformed people are suddenly going to be afraid of children with aspergers. Which by the way is a form of autism. I have cared for many children with aspergers and NONE of them have ever been a threat to me or others. geesh...anyways back to my happy place.
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/mental-health-aspergers-syndrome
I am Buddhist, so it is no surprise that I feel great compassion for well alot...I am against violence, and hate in all its forms. Anger has its place when we know how to express it properally. I am not really for guns, guns promote violence, but they are not the reason for it, people are. I am also an American, and I do beleive in our right to own a gun, even if I personally do not. So how does all of this tie together?
Suddenly, once again, we have a reason to want to ban guns. But anyone who should not have a gun will still find a way to have a gun. The real issue here is not gunowner ship in American. The real issue is mental health in America and how we choose, or not choose, to deal with it! In all the cases of mass murder I guarentee someone, somewhere, knew what the person who committed the crime was capable of. Did they have a flash of, omg this person is truley evil? I doubt it. We all get the flash, that warning signal, that makes us wonder and perhaps think, this person is going to do something ahrmful; to himself, or someone else. But then we shove it aside thinking that no one, especially someone we know, would be capable of doing anything so horrible. BUT havnt we been shown too many times that it is possible? But what do we continue to do?
We ignore it time and time again. then afterwards, like uninformed chickens with our heads cut off we start accusing everyone! The Amr Chair Pyschos come out of their homes and prop their chairs right out into the open and proceed to start misdiagnosing everyone, saying I told you so and the end of the world is coming; there fore devalueing the real issue. I tell you those pharmacuetical companys have it made. They not only get to give pills to those who truley need them, but to those who don't and eventually the arm chair pyscho's!
So lets end this shall we and get to the Pith of the Matter. Information is power. The more we have, the more we know. The more we know the wiser we become. The wiser we are the more loving and compassionate we become. Its true...a time tested theory called Buddhism; but even if you are not Buddhist it still works. The next time you hear a freind, a family member, an aquaintance, a school mate, a teacher, a neighbor, the cashier at 7-11...anyone say something that throws up a warning signal STOP! Dont walk away. Go back and say whats up? Im concerned about you? Then say look Im here for you and I will be watching you to make sure you are ok. THEN DO IT!! Recruit others to help! Form a support network. Show some love, compassion and kindness. EVEN if the guy is kinda creepy and gives you the heebie jeebies. Even if the girl is bat crack crazy!
So many times people think if they get involved something bad will happen. Suddenly they will have no time for what they want to do...really...say after me boundaries. Or they might get hurt, emotionally or worse physically. Let me share something with you...social worker (pointing at myself) for 20 plus years, still alive, still pursueing personal life, feels full filled, safe, intellegent, worthy and more than that KNOWS has made others feel the same way, which is priceless. Want the world to change? Make the first step you, then pay if forward.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/8933.php
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/search.php?q=anxiety&p=1
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=anger-management-self-control
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/search.php?q=suicide&p=1
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