Here at Mighty Distractible, we like to keep things crafty and (relatively) light. We talk about knitting, sewing, embroidery, cooking, books we've read, movies we've seen. But, every now and again there's a
story of cultural relevance that we feel the compulsion to comment on. Today is one of those kind of posts.
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| My dear friend, John, captured it beautifully. |
As most of you know, we live in Wisconsin. And, as if the political events of the last 500-odd days haven't been enough to keep us on our toes (and more than a little bummed out about the state of our lovely state), yesterday we made history with one of the most heinous shootings in recent memory. Hot on the heels of the mass shooting in a Colorado movie theater, our "event" had the added poison of being a hate crime. The shooter attacked a Sikh temple - killing six and wounding three, including a police officer who was trying to help a victim.
Seriously, what the F*CK is wrong with people?
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| These people are not the enemy. |
My heart breaks for the dead and for the surviving families and friends. I can't imagine what their life must feel like today - how confusing the world must look to them. And for the rest of us for having to know that this kind of insanity is happening all around us - seemingly more and more often. Am I getting older and noticing it more or is our world becoming more fractured and violent every day?
I spent a good portion of yesterday asking myself this question.
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| Deserved celebration. |
Then, a funny thing happened on my way to depression. NASA landed a rover called Curiosity on the surface of Mars. Almost 70% of previous Mars missions have failed and, against all odds, this amazing team of scientists managed to fling a car-sized mobile lab onto the surface of the planet - and not break anything. Within seven minutes of landing (smoothly, I might add), the rover started transmitting. We received transmissions with only a 14 minute delay. (There's a nine hour delay to see Olympic events... I'm just sayin'.) This was, undoubtedly, one of the most amazing and successful scientific events of my lifetime. And the whole damn thing only cost $2.5 billion dollars. I think it's time to start siphoning off some defense money and giving it to NASA. Seriously.
It's hard to stay sad when something so miraculous happens.
So, that was the roller coaster that was yesterday. And, while the success of the Curiosity helped off-set my completely crushed heart about the shootings at the temple, I simply can't get over the state of our world today. If only every event could be a Curiosity.
Chins up, all.
- Alex
I was so sad to hear of the attack on the Sikh temple. Every Sikh I have ever met was kind, intelligent, generous, gracious...things that seem to be lacking with most of my fellow humans these days. I'm speechless.
ReplyDeleteIt *does* feel more fractured and violent, doesn't it? But there are also wonders, every day. They just keep getting shoved out of the limelight.
ReplyDeleteWhy? I don't know. Maybe people fall in line easier if they're terrified.
@Ronda - that's been my experience as well. It is an amazingly peaceful religion, predicated on doing good work and giving back to the community. Because some effing moron thinks all people that look different are the (manufactured) enemy, six innocent people died. Grrrrr....
ReplyDelete@Mutant - I try to focus on the miracles - like NASA's success last night - but it gets harder and harder with each unnecessary death and with each display of epic ignorance. *sigh*
Such a contrast of events - the depths of human hate and the heights of human endeavour. Good idea to focus on the miracles, but I also like that you don't forget the sadness.
ReplyDelete@pinkundine - exactly. Although the sad bits have a tendency to want to push their way to the front and overshadow the good bits. Bastards.
ReplyDelete