MOVING ON, SO DIFFICULT

Moving on sounds so simple, it is so very, very difficult. No
one can or should tell the families of shooting victims how and
when to move on. Until someone suffers the tragic shooting
death of a child or relative, that someone has no right to
preach to the survivors on how to recover from the tragedy.
This is especially true when those willing to give so much
counsel are not willing to tackle the legal and societal problems
that played a role in the crime.

Every time we catch ourselves enjoying ourselves, feeling
good, we feel guilty—we feel ashamed for enjoying ourselves
when someone who meant so much to us is not here to share
that feeling. It is next to impossible to move on, when you pick
up the morning paper and see the faces of young Americans
killed because bureaucratic incompetence and lies sent them to
their deaths in Iraq. And then you hear shallow and superficial
phrases such as “A New Way Forward.” What way forward do
the dead soldiers and their families have? Each one of those
faces brings the pain flooding back; we grieve again for them
and for their families. We want to tell each and every one of
the survivors—we understand. 

In Virginia, changes may not come until every family has lost
someone because of gun violence. The change probably will
not come until every Virginia family realizes the magnitude of
the problem we face; the threat to our safety and the safety of
our children. It may take a spree of hideous crimes before
Virginians will wake up to the need to keep guns out of the
hands of individuals with documented histories of violence;
out of the hands of the mentally ill.

How can anyone “move on” when the law allows a man to
beat-up his wife and then go out and buy a gun—even when a
judge has ordered a “cooling off period.” Where is the logic in
this? Where is the justice? Where is the outrage? (To be
continued)