Wednesday, June 14, 2017

What a Sad, Sad World…

 Flag Day June 14, 2017

When I walked into the living room today my husband was watching the news on TV and told me that there had been a shooting in the Capitol,

Me: Oh God, anyone hurt
Him: Yeah, a few, there’s a congressman and a couple of cops
Me: I just hope they will be okay
Him: Yeah

As the time passed there was more and more information about the incident, the victims’ names and eventually the name of the shooter — a short time later there was an announcement that the shooter had died from his injuries.

Today is Flag Day. On June 14, 1777 there was a congressional resolution calling for an OFFICIAL American flag with stars and stripes representing the colonies. In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson suggested that June 14 be observed as Flag Day and celebrated with Patriotism. In 1949 President Harry Truman signed that proclamation into law. The American Flag stands today with 50 stars and 13 stripes as a symbol of freedom, liberty and human rights.

“…One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

I typed the deceased shooter’s name into Google and came up with his Facebook page. Curious about what would make a man fire upon others in such an apparent random act of senseless violence I did click on his page to see if he had posted any prior notice. The man was politically charged and not a fan of the current administration and extremely verbal about his feelings. In this country we do have the right of free speech and he did exercise it — but from what I could read he didn’t advocate violence or killing. Whatever reason this man may have justified his deed by, whether mental illness or some “plot”, I cannot condone his actions.

However what did strike me, frighteningly so, were the multitudes of comments filled with vitriol; I wasn’t the only one to have referenced his page. And this was what I find even more abhorrent, the commentary on his page was, almost without exception, celebrating his death as a “lesson” to any others who disagreed with the current administration. The hate didn’t stop there, regardless of the insulting and vile names that many of these people used to label non-Trump supporters, there were actually jokes and comparisons to the ovens of Nazi Germany and the fate of the residents of Hiroshima… these are events that (should) have NO relevance to today’s incident.

The hatred that was spewed on his page included threats, physical threats, to his family and friends. There were also several postings insulting and threatening anyone who had “friended” the man on Facebook. Allegedly several screenshots were made of the friends list and sent to the FBI and other “interested groups”. A plea that had been posted on this man’s page to allow his “shocked family” to mourn was answered with more hate, name-calling, and threats.

Is this what our country has become? I am heartbroken. It doesn’t matter what our political persuasions are, WE ARE AMERICANS. This hatred and divisiveness is not what our country should stand for. We should all be celebrating the principles which our country was founded upon and living up to the ideals that the many who have come before us tried to instill:
Individual Liberty: The principle that each person is born with freedom from arbitrary or unjustified restraint.
Federalism: A system of dual sovereignty. ...
Limited Government: ...
Representative Government: ...
Private Property: ...
“All Men Are Created Equal”: ...
Separation of Powers/Checks and Balances:



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