Horrors

The weekend had a shooting rampage in Sacramento. 

Six dead. Scores more injured.

It hardly made the news.

There wasn’t wall-to-wall coverage, but I did see sadness from the father of one of the victims.

So many lives utterly destroyed.

And perhaps we aren’t paying attention to that particular horror because of Ukraine.

Mass graves.

Rapes at the hands of Russian soldiers and it makes it even more disgusting when you realize that there is a fraction of the political spectrum still rooting for Putin.

Tucker Carlson declared that he was definitely on the side of Russia because they never did anything to him.

Hitler didn’t either, but that isn’t a sound reason to root for him, is it?

And I never truly understood war.

I distinctly recall the second grade and being told that one of the commandments was:

“Do not kill.”

Three simple words.

I asked the nun:

“What about during a war? If you kill someone then do you go to hell?”

The nun didn’t give me a good answer.

In fact, I recall her stumbling over it.

Back then I didn’t understand why there would be a difference. 

I still don’t get it.

I couldn’t wrap my head around the concept of war then and I still can’t do it.

I can’t grasp that level of evil.

I don’t understand why someone would give up their life based on the whims of someone in Washington.

I definitely appreciate the ultimate sacrifice made by our troops - particularly back when our freedom was up for grabs during WWII.

But I’m losing my grasp on what being patriotic means these days.

I see confederate flags, Nazi flags, Trump flags and ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ flags.

Backs are being turned on an outright attack on the Capitol.

I don’t understand that.

Lives were lost that day, on our soil.

Lives are lost in our streets because we can’t figure out guns.

A million Americans died during the pandemic, and those lives were, on a whole, dismissed at best, disregarded at worst.

The nun didn’t have an answer.

I don’t have one either.

But it’s an absolute horror.