The Way I See It

Awaking on Sunday morning June 12, 2016 I turned on the television as a I normally do to watch Charles Osgood, Early Morning Sunday News on CBS Channel 2 in NYC.  Instead there was a special report about a mass shooting that took place in Orlando FL during the hours of my sleep.  By the time the day was done I learned that 50 people were dead and 54 were seriously injured by an unbalanced individual who held a rapid repeating gun and shot innocent human beings who had gathered to celebrate in a nightclub called PULSE.  Most of the patrons were of the LGBT community.  All the gunman’s insane thoughts were to kill as many gay people as he could in the name of his chosen ideology of radical Islam.  He lost his own life this day as well, being shot by the brave people of law enforcement, who responded to the call of help from all those who managed to escape the onslaught.

There are thousands of opinions flowing out there over this horrific event, personal, political, religious, et al and we can’t ignore them all, but we can perhaps learn something from each of them.  Hopefully, there will be an idea out there that will enact a change in all of us.  I feel as if I have been sitting by complacently since the horrific attack on America on September 11, 2001. Just watching my beloved country defending itself against those who wished to harm her and her people.  It seems there have been horrific attacks worldwide for many different reasons  since that horrible day, but this horrible day has woken me up.

We don’t want this to be a war of religions because that would mean its World War 3 and that is something none of us want to happen nor even fathom. The thought brings with it a meaning that it’s the end of civilization as we have come to know it.  Personally, I don’t want there to be war anywhere.  I am a peaceful human being who loves all human beings who are not evil.  Oh yes, I said that.  Evil is out there although I am not a fanatic about it –I know it exists.  It exists in everyone who puts their own will above everyone else’s and in order to achieve their own self satisfaction they need to harm or kill others to express that evil of hate and/or violence.  Those acts of violence are the epitome of evil to me.

I have heard and listened to the thoughts of well known people such as: celebrities, Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert; Internet personality, Tomi Lauren; Muslim leaders, Imam Anjem Choudhry, and CAIR Executive Director, Mihad Awad; world leader, President Obama; political leaders, Hilary Clinton, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders; recognized and respected Professor and Author, Dr. George Rodman.  I have even listened to one of the Christian leadership ‘s most bigoted personalities (also a Reverend and author) , Pastor Robert Jeffress and the attorney, Eliot Spitzer.  I have listened to my family and friends.

All their messages were different, but all told me the same thing.  It is time for change in America.  It is time that we get out of the problems in the Middle East once and for all. Is it a time when we wake up to realize that money is the reason behind all the arguments. Progress for future generations should be the only motive.  It is those who control the events around the world whose only thought is to make a profit off the hardships of others, it is time for that to stop.

We have been trying since the 1960s to make peace the theme of the world. After the postwar of September 11th we are far overdue for this to become a reality.  No arguments over guns, politics, religion or greed will ever be solved.  Those things are only battles in this current climate.  We need to be victorious in bringing about a peaceful and tolerable world and the only way to do that is to live in each country as we did in the past and no longer be involved in trying to bring democracy to any other nation.  We have to live by example there is no other solution to end these awful violent acts worldwide.  We start here in America with our flag flying high.  We start here in America where we all assimilate.  We start here in America where the world knows just by our united stance that we will defend our country with all our might just as the other countries will do the same for their own.  We will welcome new people to our shores legally all those who wish to come here because they are willing to become Americans and practice their individual languages, cultures and religion in their own homes, mosques, temples, and churches , just as our ancestors have done.  Only as a united America renewed in her peaceful meaning and tolerant nature will we accomplish the theme of peace worldwide.

No, I don’t mean that we need to tolerate the acts of the imbalanced individual whose disturbed persona allows the integrated ideology of extremists to penetrate their psyche, no, those who do this, naturally must be punished either through death or incarceration or perhaps reached in time to be helped.  Yes, we have to enact new laws that include controlling what guns are permitted to be owned by our citizens.  Not banish the 2nd Amendment just tweak it so it truly means what it was supposed to mean before the age of the automatic rifles, grenades, etc.  A handgun for personal defense of home and family, a hunting rifle for those who wish to practice this barbaric sport, that should be enough to cover the rights in the 2nd amendment.  The NRA only seeks to make a profit, so allow their profits to be made through the military and law enforcement for those are the only avenues that I see a need for automatic weapons.  Of course, I don’t believe I need a gun and that is also my right under the Constitution and Declaration of Independence or what I know of them.  Help the mentally ill wherever and whenever you encounter these individuals.  I believe that intervention for the sole purpose of protecting the mentally disturbed individual so that they do not harm themselves or others has to be a center of study in America today.  You cannot get a handle on one without the other.

Take a good hard look at America today and realize that we need to stop, think, and listen.  We need to put a serious movement forward which promotes all of the things I mentioned today, but most of all we must see our flag and know the meaning of her is to defend our very own country because we all made her exist.  No matter what creed, no matter what race, no matter what color, all of us as human beings seeking to practice our faiths and our beliefs (whatever they may be) in one land have created the America I know and love to this day.  To stand strong, proud and tolerant under one flag is the greatest example for anyone who is oppressed and in need to see.  We can always be the hope of the world if we want to be, we can always find a way to do exactly what our founding fathers intended us to know and to do, we can change ourselves around by looking back, looking straight ahead and looking forward.  Accepting that this is every single American’s responsibility, purpose and belief will lead that theme of peace and it will spread, as surely as I am typing this blog today, it will.  It doesn’t much matter who leads the country in today’s world.  What matters is its’ people and their desire to change and show their leader how they want their country lead and that the intolerance that has labeled us since September 11th will stop because the event of June 12th was the wake up call that resounded around the globe reminding us all who are privileged to live in this country that peace and tolerance is the only weapon anyone will ever need.

May her glory forever wave.

And that is the way I See It, here in Brooklyn.

K