As long as we love to watch
the gore, the blood, the severed heads
and bodies cut in two
we will always have kids massacred
in elementary school
so why do we waste time blaming
everything but the cause?
I just finished reading ‘No Country for Old Men’ by Cormac McCarthy and finally understand the meaning of the title which was totally lost to me after watching the movie.
Then I got to thinking how much that’s like living in America and how we have all lost the ability to figure out the meaning of the title because so much meaning is being cut from the script and replaced with a more marketable item, violence.
I, like the old cop in the book remember another America. A better America.
I agree abt. reading the book FIRST...and I agree as a child we didn't have to worry abt. someone coming to our school to kill us, in that sense it was a better America. It is an ugly world, by our standards, that children are growing up in. But, as in the book I'm reading (The Rent Collector) the old grandmother says "memory can be such a pernicious little monkey", when, as the young woman returns to her village and remembers a simpler peaceful life, her grandmother reminds her of the reality of living there - no jobs, a hard life. So, when the woman & family return home to the garbage dump in the city where they live (PhenomPhen, Cambodia) (sp?) She realizes maybe it's sort of like the putrid-smelling Durian fruit - it stinks, but inside is the sweetest, most valued fruit.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's what's inside that counts. Maybe if we find peace inside ourselves, that's the sweetest place.
I think about the past sometimes- was it just that we were protected by our parents, just as parents today are tryng to protect their children from this world, because we know there were terrible things went on, just not talked about...We didn't have our misery splashed all over the media, to keep reminding us of the horrors - kids today can hardly get away from it - most have iphones, ipads, etc. to keep them "informed" ugh. Wouldn't normally go on like this..Just an opinion, or observation, if you like...
Guess what I'm trying to say, it's a DIFFERENT world, for sure than our childhood; I don't know if it was BETTER...
ReplyDeleteI guess what I'm trying to say is it was an America that abhorred the blood and gore even though we knew it existed we never relished in it but somewhere along the line we’ve been sold a bill of goods that say’s it’s okay and worst still, it’s what we need to be entertained properly.
ReplyDeleteDespite popular opinion I draw a direct line between the movies of today and the meaningless violence in our streets and schools. These crazy's are getting their ideas from somewhere.
ReplyDeleteand it was BETTER back then. It's always been crazy but anything is better than what's going on today. These tragedies have become commonplace and that simply wasn't the case back then. Your comments make me try to remember but I just don't remember school shootings when I was growing up nor do I remember presidents bragging about killing supposed enemies nor do I remember poor people's livelihoods being put on the bargaining tables by congressmen.
ReplyDeleteI think the propaganda dictates we say "it's a DIFFERENT world today" instead of what it really is.
ReplyDeleteMy bottom line comment was, in spite of the horror splashed all around us, maybe it's time to "go inside" find that peace inside...not outside, not in the media. If memories of the past make you peaceful, go there. didn't mean to upset...
ReplyDeleteYou don't upset me. You make me try to remember what I can't remember so I simply disagree. Apathy has it's own course, it's own definitions and it's own solutions and when I recognize a aspect of it I have to say something. Sorry if I upset you.
ReplyDeleteI really don't consider peace as "apathy". Yes, there are so many things to fix...today is just a day of peace for me, simple as that. I am not blind to what's happening to our country and I'm not apathetic, just physically ill. Today I choose peace, as much as possible, that's all. Words can hurt or heal. Thanks for your words, nevertheless. Agree on some level, most of the time:-) Be well.
ReplyDeleteIt's fear that is separating us.
ReplyDeleteI don't live in the past nor do I find peace remembering it because there was nothing peaceful about it for me but it was better than what I see going on today.
ReplyDeleteTo say it's just different today and yesterday wasn't necessarily better seems to go down a lot easier than saying sure it's different because we've become perverted in our thinking and we have no power to change it because the powers that be insist we become more perverted in our thinking.
See? That doesn't go down easy at all.
you're right.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to offend and I'm not saying you're apathetic. I'm just saying apathy's range is wide and subtle and it seeps in unnoticed.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughtful comments.
you're welcome. true about apathy. we all fall into at one time or another...I agree we can't let this one slide, however. sounds like there's bills in congress in the making, etc. how do we change our sick mindset, however. banishing guns won't do it...has to come from a deeper level. thoughtful voices, that's all i want to hear right now. i'm sure others read your work, but don't respond...hope more will contribute.
ReplyDeleteYou're about the only one who ever comments anymore and I appreciate it. I don't think there are very many who care about the things I write about. I realize most of my stuff is doggerel but I think the idea is more important than the way it's worded or expressed.
ReplyDeleteI think you're absolutely right about banning guns. I think it's just a distraction the lawmakers use to make themselves look more concerned than they really are.
hard as it is to say I think these tragedies are a reflection of society's true nature and desire. A dog eat dog society is encouraged and sometimes the dogs eat the kids too.
After coming back from Vietnam I got all caught up in the pro's and con's of that war and I remember someone saying to me,'the losers will always become just like the victors eventually" and sometimes I wonder if that's what happened to the America of my youth. It was lost in Vietnam. Now we are just like them, destroying ourselves from within.
ReplyDeleteEverybody thinks the cause is "something else" has nothing to do with them. gun owners thinks it's about violent media, pacifists think it's about war and the gun culture; others think it's about mental health...none of us want to take responsibility for our part in the problem...I personally hate the power of the NRA. There is no reason on God's earth that ANY civilian should have an assault rifle...
ReplyDeleteor a clip that holds 30 shells for a hand gun.
ReplyDeleteyes.
ReplyDelete