David Carruthers

Let’s do something before it’s too late

With 8 dead and 5 seriously injured in a shopping mall in Omaha Nebraska, yet again we see tragedy strike innocent people in a public place.

Why is society silent or in denial? It looks like we are all conditioned to stand by and accept levels of violence perpetrated upon fellow man in what seems like ever increasing intensity and regularity.

Just watch any local or national news channel on any random day and you can expect to hear one of the following:

BREAKING NEWS……

“Quietsville School in lock down”

“gunman on the loose”

“ fatalities and injuries unknown at this time”

“many dead in attempted robbery ”

‘body discovered in lake”

“hostage situation, SWAT team deployed”

There will undoubtedly be calls for new tougher gun controls and the usual rebuttal from interested parties, however, this is not a binary problem. To positively impact and solve complex problems you have to apply diversity. It will take more than a knee jerk reaction to positively impact this sad situation. It will take improvements across the board, government, gun law reevaluation, police, help agencies, education, parenting, etc. etc. We all have a part to play, so let’s start to play it now.

David Carruthers 8th December 2007.