On the Tips of Your Fingers

 We've been escaping to watch "Corner Gas" after the news. And it's a temporarily good remedy.

Having been raised in a small town, I got sent to another one to go to college. I'm a walker, so I walked in both. In the original one, there was a trap door from the attic, and I could go up there and sing with my guitar. At night, it must have been a little spooky, as the light from the attic attracted the city police with a flashlight. So, when I was out walking one night, the police stopped me again. I told them my name, and they, wondering who would be out walking in the dark of night, put the two events, atop the attic and walking at night, together. And they said, "Oh, it's you...no wonder!" So, it was a natural transition to walk in the next town, which doesn't bring back good memories. But it was safe. The point of this is, this is where I come from.

It's true that 1968 was not a good year for my family, and I won't go into details about that string of events here, but it wasn't a good year for our country, either.

So, either near or after graduation, I remember being on a charter bus, and a fellow from New Zealand started talking to me, saying, when he said he was going to the states, they said, well, you'd better carry a gun. I was taken aback! It was a bit before the '70's. I'd never heard we had that reputation. Coincidentally, I saw him a little later at a wedding of my friend to another New Zealander.

I could never have envisioned, though, with all that violence in the late 60's, it would morph into what we have now. The violence seemed confined to marches and VIP's getting killed, as well as soldiers brought home in coffins, one of whom was my brother.

My parents were Republican, and I don't think they could have envisioned what the party has morphed into now. At least, I hope they wouldn't have stubbornly clung to the party after all the shenanigans this party has pulled, voting in Trump, and a number of other unsavory characters, and staging an insurrection to overthrow the government.

We may not have been all that nice to each other in school, but we never had to fear for our safety. The events started with a mentally ill lady from Madison, Wisconsin, who walked into a classroom facilitated by a substitute teacher, in Illinois, and opened fire. The assailant managed to kill one child. I was so blown away by that, I got a whole book to read on this incident, trying to figure out who could do such a thing! It was unfathomable that this kind of thing would spread and grow and grow.

This does not mean that I think mental illness is the problem. Most people with mental problems don't go do these things.

The problem is the military assault weapons. It's time to stop trying to arm teachers. That's not their training, and that's not what they signed up for. It's time to stop saying the kids should have guns. Consider the stage of development kids are in, where they say, "Bang Bang...you're dead!" And people are insane enough to say they should have real guns.

During the era I've referred to, I got some counseling from a minister who bordered on modernism. He pointed out that when you play the guitar, what do you develop on your fingers? I could tell him from experience, callouses. Such is the way with the human spirit...you can develop...callouses.

So, if you wonder what's with the people in our government and those who vote for them, what exactly is wrong as they continue being enticed by the money they get from the gun lobby. They show no consideration for teachers, children, the children's parents and grandparents, these "leaders" have become exactly that...completely calloused.