We are more fearful from our imagination than from what is real.
I have spent most of life afraid. Unfortunately, what I was afraid of was beyond my control:
the thoughts, perceptions, and actions of others
world events
the weather
What a waste of time!
Focus on those things completely within your control:
your thoughts
your perceptions
your actions
Concentrate on this moment. Put your energy here. Yesterday is gone. No matter how much you wish it, it cannot be changed. Tomorrow will never arrive. The only thing you have to deal with is right here and right now.
My life would have been so much better had I learned that 50 or 60 years ago.
I received my depressing absentee ballot for the May primary. Seven offices are up for election. Only one office — the mayor — is challenged. One tax levy is on the ballot. Only the major and the tax levy merit my attention.
I’ve considered the race for mayor. The incumbent has some credibility problems. The mayor failed to recuse herself from a proposal to demolish some residential properties around the YMCA because, sitting on the Board of Directors of the YMCA, created a conflict of interest between her elected office and the charitable office.
The challenger is great at identifying concerns but fails to reveal how those concerns would be addressed if nominated and elected. (Plus, I have difficulty taking a politician seriously who has a nose piercing.)
My vote reflects my values. I’m having difficulty deciding.
Government — federal, state, and local — has failed us. Whenever there has been a mass shooting, the best our politicians can do is to offer sympathy and prayers.
It’s time for the people to get involved.
First, invest in gun manufacturers. Become active in corporate management. Question the board of directors. Propose candidates and resolutions for a shareholder vote.
Secondly, join the National Rifle Association (NRA). Become active in the NRA’s management. Question and lobby board members about policy, management, and lobbying activities. Propose resolution for a vote by the membership.
Third, vote in political elections. Express dissatisfaction with politicians who can only offer sympathy and prayers when tragedies occur while accepting gifts, trips, and money from the institutions and organizations contributing to the problem. Send them home. Demand accountability.
If you want change, do something about it. Sitting back and asking government, business, some religious organization, or charity to do something doesn’t cut it. Get involved. Be the change you want to see. It’s all about action, not words.
Frankly, I anticipate more sympathy and prayers from our politicians and more hand-wringing by those who want change.
When I was in school we had fire drills. The klaxon would sound. We would orderly retire to our assigned space. The teachers would take attendance and report. We’d return to our classroom and Mr. Ensign, the superintendent, or Mr. Tatham, the principal, would give us the report on the PA.
We never had tornado drills, although the teachers were provided with instructions on what do in the event of a tornado.
Active shooter drills were not even discussed. The idea that someone would assault a preschool or elementary and secondary school was considered ridiculous. Times have certainly changed. However there are records of education related shooting going back to 1853.
Personally, active shooter drills should fall in the same category as tornado drills. Teachers and administrators should be taught what to do. Law enforcement can schedule practices and simulations on teacher work days. I fail to see the value of subjecting students to the practices and simulations. If the teachers and administrators are adequately prepared, they should be able to play their parts. If law enforcement feels the need to have students present recruit volunteers as is done with mass disaster training.
The mass school shootings and the absence of action by any level of government has increased paranoia. Avoid any activity that might be construed as imitating a shooting. Society’s psyche can’t tolerate it.
I remember a halftime performance of the University of Michigan band where Darth Vader chased Luke Skywalker around the stadium with a light saber in hand. That probably wouldn’t be tolerated today.
I grew up watching western television shows and having cowboy heroes. You’re growing up with Star Wars, Star Trek, and the Marvel Universe. The story is the same: good versus evil. Only the time has changed from the “Old West” to some time in the future. Guess what? There are weapons that take the lives of others in both genres.
Do you know what’s different? The weapons from the “Old West” were concrete; they existed. I could go to a gun store a shoot a Winchester Model 1873, the gun that won the West if I wanted.
Or any other weapon that was used in those old westerns on television. The weapons you see are abstract. Science is just beginning to catch-up with science fiction. However, laser weapons, phase cannons, photon torpedoes, directed energy weapons, particle beams, plasma weapons, and light sabers reside in the minds of the writers while technology is working to convert fiction into fact.
However, aside from your video games that allow respawning death is the actual consequence of the weapons of your genre as it is with mine.
Learn to treat your genre’s weapons as you would a real gun. There is no difference.
I remember making the pilgrimage to the Ohio State Fair whenever Roy Rogers and Trigger were there.
Or when Gene Autry and Champion were present.
I remember when the Cisco Kid visited Findlay in 1957. I remember going to the movie theatre in Toledo to watch How the West Was Won (1962).
I grew up watching Wagon Train (1957-1962), The High Chaparral (1967-1971), Bronco (1958-1962), Cheyenne (1955-1962), Maverick (1957-1962), Sugarfoot (1957-1961), Colt .45 (1957-1960), The Lawman (1958-1962), Laredo (1965-1967), Gunsmoke (1955-1975), Rawhide (1959-1965), and others. I wanted to be a Westerner. I wanted to ride horses. I wanted to shoot guns.
Father kept a small arsenal. A couple of .22 caliber rifles and about four shotguns. The uses fell into categories: pest control (wood chucks, raccoons, mad dogs) and hunting (pleasant and rabbit). I received frequent lectures about guns, gun safety, and the dangers associated with guns.
I had toy guns. Everything from muzzle loaders through an M-14. I even had a holster and revolvers like the Lone Ranger (1949-1957).
I never touched father’s guns without permission. There’s still a tinge of guilt when I handle them today even though father died in 1997, and I inherited them.
I grew up with a concrete awareness of what guns could do. Thanks Father. If guns can put food on the table, guns can take the life of another. That’s irreversible. There is no respawning.
Guns are neither good nor bad. Guns simply are.
Whether you intend to use a gun or not, take a gun safety class. I’ve had three. You might even learn to shoot competitively.
When I was in second or third grade, I went with my father to get parts for a Minneapolis Moline implement. I suspect it was for a corn picker although it could have been for a hay bailer. We went to a shop on West Sandusky Street in Findlay. It was somewhere between I-75 and where Sandusky Street intercepts Ohio Route 12, The owner of this implement store had a prosthetic hand similar to this.
Father called him Tong. I was embarrassed. I couldn’t understand why my father would call him names simply because he didn’t have a hand.
I never asked my father. I was too embarrassed and ashamed. (I guess my values had been offended.)
Fast forward. On Facebook, there’s a group entitled “You Know You’re From Findlay If ….” One of the members of this group mentioned his father’s machinery business on West Sandusky Street. His posting stirred this memory. I was surprised to discover that Tong was the owner’s last name. My perception was wrong. I should have inquired.
Even though my perceptions belong entirely to me, with inaccurate or incomplete information, perceptions can be mistaken. Get information so that you can use your reasoned choice.
jcfunk 