United in Grief: An Unspeakable Act in Connecticut

I feel that, if only briefly, we all are united by our feelings after the horror last Friday.  Others have written poignantly about the evil that visited a town in Connecticut, of so many lives so young and now extinguished, of the terror of the day that will long haunt the survivors, or how we all break down at the mention of the names of the children.  We cannot help but think of our own greatest treasures, our children, and how fragile these treasures are.

For a brief while, the nation is united in grief.

But we cannot dwell too long over this evil and the tragic loses.  We cannot become stuck in pondering the acts of last Friday, least we become caught up in the negativity of the evil.  We, as individuals, as communities, and as a nation must, in time, move on, honoring those who have passed by asking how we as a nation need to change.  We all want our children to be safe at school.  And we so desperately want this to never, ever happen again.

But, already, as we consider why this happened and what we can do to prevent it, our unity comes undone.  There are issues related to gun laws, to the care of those with mental problems, to how to secure our schools, and how to detect those who might commit such hideous acts.  And already, most of us fall back to long-held positions on these issues.

Yet, many of us say “enough!”  And some are willing to look anew at the issues and what we should do.

At this point the issues become political and I will discuss them in my political blog.

But my final thought on this matter is about the so-called Doomsday scenarios that some believe are coming soon:  the end of the Mayan calendar and the fiscal cliff.  Just a week ago I wrote a post making some fun at them. 

Like Y2K doom and gloom predictions, the media and many folks have become obsessed about a Doomsday in our times.  Yet, Y2K passed and no Doomsday.  Instead it came on Sept. 11, 2001.

Well, same thing this year.  I suspect everything will be fine on Dec. 22^nd and January 1^st.  Instead, Doomsday came to Newtown, Connecticut on Dec. 14, 2012.

Disaster Ahead

Clearly there is a fascination with doomsday scenarios, be it the coming of the Rapture, Y2K, nuclear holocaust, alien invasions or any of a number of disasters.  Our culture is full of examples of impending disaster.  You see it in movies, books, and TV shows.  We're all doomed! 

This year is no exception.  We heard a little bit of this doomsday talk after the presidential election:  the Middle East will explode, the economy will self-destruct, unemployment will rival rates in Greece, they'll come and take your guns, or other fears.  But, obviously the big two this year are the end of the Mayan Calendar and the Fiscal Cliff. 

The end of the Mayan Calendar is interpreted by some as a doomsday.  Maybe aliens will come.  Or a planetary collision. Or a sudden change of the earth's magnetic field.  In any case, it'll be bad.  People are buying shelter and arms.  So, if you believe this, panic now!  There's only 10 shopping days until the End of the World.

If the End of the World does come, then the second doomsday, the feared Fiscal Cliff, won't matter.  But at least the fate of this doomsday is in human hands, and not some unspecified or vague cause.  Of course, the human hands are of US politicians in the post-compromise age, where moving to the middle is seen as heretical, and a reason to raise a candidate to oppose you in the next election.  But the rest of us can only sit back and watch each side play chicken.  All I can say is didn't their mothers tell them "Just because your political opponent threatens to go over the fiscal cliff doesn't mean you should!"  (And, only 23 shopping days before we go over the Fiscal Cliff.)

What do I think?  Well, my in-laws are Peruvian (part Incan) and the Incan Calendar does not end this year.  So, clearly, nothing will happen to our family.  And, I have a hunch they'll have an 11th hour deal to avert falling off the cliff, just like the hero in the movies always avoids falling off the cliff. 

So, what if I'm not right about this?  It's possible, but, for the record, I was right about Y2K. But, if I am wrong, then it's like Wiley Cayote is saying (quoting the immortal Porky Pig):  "That's all folks!"