Monday 23 July 2012

Aurora


Just another sick shooting.  This time it’s somewhere in the USA.  What’s the next news item…

Just a moment.  Did they say Aurora?  Which Aurora – there’s a load of different Auroras in the States.  There’s one in Illinois, and another in Maine. 

JD lives in the one in Colorado.

Check news on Internet.  Heavens Above -  it IS the one in Colorado.  



It happened yesterday.  When I’m on holiday I don’t take much notice of the news.

But JD lives in Aurora, Colorado.  Now this suddenly becomes personal.

Being linked to folk around the world via all our modern technology has its advantages but it also makes the world so small when something like this happens. 

Check on Google to see just how big Aurora is.  56th largest city in the US.  Gosh, bigger than I thought. 

Checks when J was last on-line in a mutual social network.

Ten hours ago.  So at least she’s OK and still checking her e-mails so her family can’t be involved in any way.  Hopefully.

Thank Heaven.

A random news item that would have just sunk vaguely into my unconscious, along with all the other crises and disasters, has now become a matter to be thought about. Bereaved relatives to need one’s sympathy.  Injured victims and those traumatised by simply being there.  They’d gone out to watch a movie and ….   

E-mail arrives from JD saying "family and I were home safe and sound when the shooting occured".

Aurora goes back largely to being just another sick shooting.  But so sad.  One can only hope some good eventually comes of it. 

Ah well, on to the next news item…  Wonder what the weather forecast is for tomorrow.

4 comments:

  1. Yes, this is the sick shooting that prompted my writing... Just another sick shooting in the US. While I know they happen in other countries, they seem more prevalent here, at least to me. To me, there doesn't seem to be one bit of good that comes out of these things--at least on a national level. There are 24-48 hours of non-stop coverage. Politicians come forward to express grief and sorrow. We see images of raw grief and rage. The flags are all at half mast.

    There is the talk of how awful it is. A few people talk about gun control but are drowned out by cries of "You are messing with the 2nd amendment!"

    And by Monday, it's all quiet, with occasional restaurant and coffee shop discussions of ain't it awful.

    Sorry. That's why I cling to the beauty of friendships and the kind people around me. And why I lose myself in art, song, and in being WITH other people in a more pointed way I guess.

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  2. You're so right about us all being interconnected. I have the web to thank for many wonderful friends (like you, Scriptor) but it can be a mixed blessing when the horrible events which happen thousands of miles away suddenly come home to roost, so to speak.

    The shooter in Aurora, Colorado, is an especially difficult case. The quiet person who has no criminal record and who has never shown any previous psychotic tendencies. How do we identify these people, without badgering people who are harmless but just different? Is the writer or artist who lives in an alternate world mentally ill, or just creative?

    A real dilemma. Of course the ease with which he was able to buy guns is chilling, but that's another story.

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  3. I echo all that has been said. But to add my two cents worth, I have to say that as long as our culture revels in such evil through all kinds of media including TV, movies and computer games we are exposing people with borderline mental health issues to ideas, scenarios and thoughts that they may not have had in the first place. Consequently random acts of violence could possibly be less extreme. As society has pushed the boundaries as to what is acceptable as entertainment, so the level of horrific crimes has increased. Sermon over.

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  4. I like what Canadian Chickadee writes. So sad that people can do such horrific things.

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