The Man who Killed Liberty Valance...

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Certainly this week has again brought home how quickly violence, related mental illness, and carnage collide.  In Oregon, a young man loaded up with guns and bullets, brought horror and death to a small college community.

Not much else needs to be said about this horror, since the media are sucking this massacre to the bone.

This sentence will surely seem unrelated, but has anyone seen “The Man who Shot Liberty Valance”?

 

Do you remember John Wayne in the role of Tom Doniphon and Jimmy Stewart in the role of Ransom Stoddard?  Lee Marvin as Liberty Valance?

Do you recall the conflict of justice through the law and justice through immediate confrontation of evil and good?

This is an excellent movie, filmed in 1962, directed by John Ford.

In an article by Michael Shermer quoting Steven Pinker cites this as: 

“…the (fictional town of) Shinbone embodies any small community in transition from an informal (law code/cowboy code) to a formal moral code and system of justice.  When everyone takes the law into their own hands there is no law…”

Basically, what I want to say is that this tragedy in Oregon (Sandy Hood, Columbine…) is not a gun issue.  It is a moral issue. The idea of more gun control laws, and more and more will not be the solution.

The solution is in the enforcement of moral right vs. wrong in the home by the parent(s), and then reinforced in churches and schools. Only then will mental illness, sociopathic behavior, and obsessive devotion to broken ideology  be recognized early and intervention taken. 

If that doesn’t happen, guns can be sucked up by a big vacuum and yet nothing will change. 

Absolutely nothing.

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Question:  If I were trained is in firearms, had a gun, and was confronted by such a person, would I shoot to kill.  Yes. 

WedWords: Ultimately

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Don had always been a big fish in a small pond.  As a respected and experienced builder, Don employed most of the men in the community, holding many contracts for town, school, and church boards. 

His now-grown children had attended school in the town. Don and Lena went to the local Methodist church, and Don was active city council meetings.  Life was good.

His wife Lena experienced an inexplicable fall during the church bazaar, dropping a plate full of cupcakes.  The local GP, Dr. Bill Nelson, referred her to the University Hospital, where Lena and Don learned she had Stage 4 brain cancer.

Ultimately, Don and Lena moved to be close to the Cancer Treatment Center in Arizona.

From the back yard of their new home, Don stared across the desert at the glorious sunset.  The land line connecting him to his life now lay in a hospital bed, hooked up to monitors. Oh, Lena…. He sighed and returned to his empty house.

My brother Robert lived in our small town and life changed for all when he was diagnosed with brain cancer.  That feeling of emptiness comes through in this short story.

I really don't know who supplied this week's words and they are excellent!  Starting this month, Elephant's Child will providing words until the beginning of November when Delores at Under the Porch Light will take over.  Phew, I hope I have that right!

Thursday Trauma: A Mother's Pride

Soft night

Night sky was just moments away, as the brilliant reds and purples faded to gentle soft pink.  Dusk to Night was a magical moment.

Mama waited, watching for beginning of black night.  Almost…almost…she thought, impatient for the magic to begin.

It happened.  She turned to her brood and announced, “Well, now, off you go!!”

Out they flew from the mouth of the cave: her cloud**of young bats, disappearing into the night, searching for night time bugs.   “Watch out for owls!  And, Bubba, don’t overeat!”

Another successful launch. Papa will be so proud.

Thanks for this new Thursday Trauma challenge go to Delores at Under the Porch Light .  Please check her site for some interesting and delightful prompts.

**This is the title for groups of bats.  Interesting.