Dave, I also wonder about all the counseling and other opportunities that are announced after events like this.
- Did we always really need them, but only have created this support over the past couple of decades?
- Or perhaps are we as a people less stable and less capable of living through things like this and carrying on?
And why would someone react with anything but regret and sadness when something like the Aurora killings takes place hundreds of miles away? It puzzles me that anyone would need "counseling" for something which has no effect on them personally. It's almost like they're searching for a reason to need personal support. I don't see why that would be needed...or why someone would pass emails around offering counseling to people in other locations.
I don't have an answer for the question I asked earlier. The event does prompt me to question my own makeup and look inside to see if there is anything to learn. When my dad passed, I had months of warning and I wasn't traumatized or grief-stricken. I was sad. When my mom passed, there was less warning but I felt the same way. For that matter, both my mom and my wife's mom (a very nice lady) both passed away during a year when i had a killer travel schedule, and I worked with both families to set the memorial services for weekends when my travel would allow me to attend. This just made sense to me.
I don't understand why some people are grief-stricken and unable to function in situations which I don't think would affect me. But what do I know? I've never had a close friend or relative killed in some accident or event that occurred without any warning.
I have been a reserve deputy and I've been at fatal accidents. In that role, it's simply your job, so you turn off the personal reactions and deal with it. In life, things happen and I need to deal with them. I'm not looking forward to the loss of friends or siblings (I'm 62), and I pray that I do not outlive either of my children. But life goes on regardless.
This whole event is only slightly closer to home; it occurred 60 miles away, but it might as well have been 600. I am not aware that I know anyone or relatives of friends of anyone involved in this. I could just as easily be in LA or New York. Even if I find that there is a connection, it's their family or friend, not mine.
There are many things going on around this...and perhaps the fact that I wrote this reflects some need on my part to make a small personal statement about it. I'm not sure. I do know that I have things to do today and work to do next week, so life will continue...and my attention is on those things in my future, not on the past.
Meanwhile, I may use my own carry license and tote a compact 9MM just a bit more often than I have recently - but it's inconvenient and I'm not often in settings where I feel exposed. As the old saying goes, "You pays your money and takes your chances." We all do this every day. Firearms is a subject I feel comfortable with having owned and used a wide variety of them. I don't see the need for a debate about the various types, although there are a very few types that I would rather see withdrawn from public ownership.
