about guns...

I try very hard not to use the word "hate." In my opinion, hate is what is destroying the world, so throwing the word around casually is just not a good idea.

However, I hate, despise, and detest with every fiber of my being, guns. My hate has risen in the last few weeks when gun-related tragedies and deaths seem to have taken over the news.

I respect a hunter's right to a gun for their sport and non-human killing, as long as they are heavily licensed and their guns are heavily protected when not in their own safe hands.

The second amendment, much like many passages in the Bible, was put in the Constitution when the times were different, and we had to make rules about situations that just don't apply anymore, i.e. the need for an active militia. Hello, it's just NOT necessary anymore. I know people will disagree, "if we had a militia, we could take these crazies out once and for all; I have a right to protect my family; blah blah blah." And I've heard the "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" argument so many times I could vomit. You're right. But it's a lot easier to kill with a gun than with, say, a taser.

I know I blogged in the fall about making a little more love in the world, and here I am yapping about it again. Love is so much stronger than hate, and it could kick the shit out of your stupid little rifle. I really dislike that we feel the need to arm ourselves in order to "feel safe." I can't imagine anything that would make me feel less safe. I wish I could bake a cake filled with sunshine and rainbows that I could shove in every barrel of every gun and smear it on every wire or liquid that could be constructed into an explosive device and they would be completely devoid of anything useful in the destruction or death of any man, woman, child, institution, building, etc. and we would have NO CHOICE but to turn to each other with open arms and say, I love you. I don't know how, but I believe in the strength of humanity, and I believe in our ability to wake up and change one day. And I hope it happens in my lifetime.

about being right...

Sometimes, it really sucks. Sometimes, you'd give anything to just be wrong, because then you can shake it off, crack it up to petty jealousy and move on. The implications of right, i.e. the pain, the anger, the inadequate explanations, and the ultimate destruction of something you put so much hope and faith into, are pretty heartbreaking.