BIG IDEAS

MAN WITH HOOD: What are we wearing these days? Nothing goes well with blood.

Sadness will mix with anger again. Soldiers killed by fellow soldiers is never easy to accept. This isn’t friendly fire. It’s not a mistake - but what is it? Look for the media to fan the flames or not ask the right questions. Notice how after Ft. Hood we begin to suspect the air around Virginia Tech must have a virus. Notice also how it doesn’t matter if you’re a U.S. citizen but your features and accent says you’re from somewhere else. Folks will once again blame things on Islam - oh boy! If you look like a Muslim or have a Muslim name - duck and cover again. If you’re Palestinian you won’t get any breaks. Folks won’t even want to give you a uniform now. How can you discuss land?

So this is our inheritance as Americans. We struggle daily to live together and understand one another. We still see people as belonging to groups - even though the big group is American.

Oh, and someone will complain about guns - but we can’t take away guns from soldiers. Can we?
Oh, and so the gunman is alive and not dead. Will we ever hear his story? Will his friends talk about how kind and gentle he was? Do we ever know our friends? What secrets do we all have?
How many of us are living on the edge?

It’s going to be strange to ask a psychiatrist for answers, when the gunman is also playing by the book.

After the days - we will fail to see the families forever destroyed. What scars must they try to love?

There are no easy answers.  We just need to be strong enough to avoid the easy lies.  — Ethelbert