Image by Jeff Youngstrom via Flickr

I remarked to my husband as we strolled through streets overflowing with out-of-towners, “Can you imagine if the shooter had chosen today to leave his mark in our midst?” With thousands drawn to celebrate the return of salmon at our annual “Salmon Days” festival, the police were out in force. A sign of the times.

Gathering from the news reports days after the incident, it seems the shooter had rented a car which he’d driven 500+ miles before running out of gas in our town. Abandoning it and taking only 2 guns from the cache later found in the car, he bypassed people going about their business, without killing anyone. 

Calls were made to 911 which confused the police. They weren’t able to discern if more than one suspect was roaming the area. It may be that he was seeking another means of escape, because the owner of a parked car called out when he saw the shooter attempt a break-in. Not long afterwards, he and the police got into a shootout and he was killed.

According to a friend of his, the shooter had visited our police station some time prior to last weekend. He was carrying an unregistered gun, for which he asked to be arrested. The police didn’t comply, claiming he’d not committed any violations. His friend felt the gunman was seeking help for himself. It is surmised that he intended to commit suicide, allowing himself to be killed during the shooting spree.

With more and more suicides cropping up in the media, I wonder at the hopelessness that seems prevalent nowadays. With money being the key to paradise, good old-fashioned values are being exorcised from society.

I am my brother’s keeper.
He’s not heavy; he’s my brother.
Treat others as you would have them treat you.
We are all God‘s children.
Share and share alike.

There are those trying desperately to curtail the suffering of those in need of help. But is it too little…too late? The ever-widening crack threatens to swallow up those who are free-falling in the current environment of negativity. Amidst the politicians and their followers who are doggedly clinging to their righteous ways, and the wealthy power brokers who are continuing to pick through the rubble snatching up “baubles” for their portfolios…human beings are being offered up as sacrificial lambs. In the grand scheme of things, they are expendable, it seems. They’re just statistics, whose numbers are ever-growing.

So rather than wait to be sacrificed, some are impaling themselves…and committing suicide. And I can’t help but think……these are someone’s children. A mother gave birth…with great hopes for ner newborn.

…what happened…to us?…where are the values upon which america was born?…

……..hugmamma.