Newtown

It's hard to remain optimistic about the nature of man in the face of horrible tragedies like today. There will be a lot of talk about gun control and second amendment rights in the coming days and months, perhaps all the better. Honestly I just don't know where to come down on the issue. It's one of those debates like unions, teachers, and immigration that seem to have no middle ground. Why can't we have common sense gun laws that the NRA and most of my Cambridge neighbors will hate, but everyone else would agree on? Again, I just don't know.

I feel as though something should come from this. Twenty kindergartners getting gunned down has to mean something. It has to be more than just one man waking up, aiming to do evil. But then again maybe it's just that. Mankind has free will and twenty kindergartners are now dead. Twenty families are facing the worst Christmas of their lives. A hurricane rolls through and drives us to heroic acts of charity, then today. What the fuck capacity do we have to respond to crises like this? Maybe political action is the only avenue available. When our nation turns from dumbfounding horror to a response, will we be driven by anything more than our complete impotence to help these families?

If there's one theme from today, it's that I just don't know how to integrate a tragedy of this scale into my view of the world. I'm going to go home, hug Ann, tackle the dog, and then try to avoid the media frenzy.