A Second Post, Because It Has To Be Said

Little Cuter's text message.  TBG's words before I joined him on the couch.  Hockey Mom via Facebook.  I barely had the shades up and the sleep out of my eyes before I was shivering.

Don't watch the coverage.  Drive carefully.  Pay attention to the world around you today.  Don't forget to say I Love You.  Everyone has a suggestion.

Everytown's Survivor Network (can you believe that we need such a thing?) is there if I need them; they reminded me on Facebook and Gmail. Before I could revel in the pictures of FlapJilly's weekend with Maga and Papa I had to wrench myself back from the brink.

I think I'm fine, most of the time.  But right now I'm hearing sirens which haven't blared for nearly 7 years.  I'm holding the hand of a dying child, begging her not to leave me, watching the light go out of her eyes.  I'm on a Medevac helicopter and then I'm in and out of consciousness, asking for Christina, knowing that she's dead.

I don't want to know anything about the Vegas shooter.  I don't want to see his face or hear his name.  I want his memory to vanish from the face of the earth.

I want this and Sandy Hook and the Pulse and San Bernadino and Isla Verde and and and and...... I want them all to have a different ending, I want pink powderpuffs to come out of the muzzles of 9mm Glocks and AK47's, I want Congress to act.  I want people to realize that prayers are lovely but ultimately meaningless in the face of the next fool with a weapon.  I want action.  I want a change.

So, today, after I call my representatives to vent, I'll put on my orange SURVIVOR shirt.  I'll wear it to Mah Jhong, to Prince Elementary School, to the grocery store and to lunch.  I'll accept the stares and I'll hand out my little Moo cards from BlogHer'13, the ones with BE HEARD! on the front and Everytown and Americans for Responsible Solutions contact information on the back.

If I can do it, quivering and shivering and yet somehow standing tall, why can't you? 

Can you ask your prayerful neighbor to call Congress about the silencers bill?  Can you write a Letter to the Editor yourself?  Wonder where the political will to stand against overarming the populace has gone?  Do you have to look in the mirror to find the answer? 

I seem to have moved from angst to fury.  No one should have to live with what my family and I carry around, not Steve Scalise nor Connecticut kindergarten kids nor Vegas concert goers, not first responders in Tucson or hospital personnel in Salt Lake City, where many of the most recent victims were LifeLift-ed because the local hospitals were overwhelmed.

Think about that.  The hospitals couldn't care for the dead and dying. 

Something is seriously wrong. 

I'm going to put on my SURVIVOR shirt and go out and do something about it.

How about you?