Unfriending

I was pretty proud of myself for not unfriending people during the election season. Not a day went by when I wasn't outraged by the insane things people were saying- defending that a joke of a man, shaming an intelligent and well-qualified woman, highlighting their own short-sightedness, and so on. Fine, I thought. To each their own. And as strongly as I felt that Donald Trump was the LAST person I could possibly want as our president, I kept my own feelings to a minimum on Facebook and such, with only a few thoughts hear and there, mostly related to how the changing world was affecting my kids.

But it's time to draw a line.

I'm so incredibly proud to say that I'm one of the "crazy liberals" who would like nothing better than to take all of your guns away. Every single one. Handgun, hunting rifle, whatever. There is absolutely NO reason to own a gun. I firmly believe that.

And I've gotten to the point where anyone defending the ridiculously outdated 2nd Amendment is no longer someone I want to share space with- whether it be on social media, in person or otherwise. Anyone who can stand up right now after what recently happened in Las Vegas and say that we don't need sweeping gun control reform is dead on the inside. Those people went out to hear some music and 59 of them never came home, not to mention the ones who are still fighting for their lives or will live forever with a bullet inside of their bodies. Yet people continue to defend the right to own a weapon. It's ridiculous.

I've overheard some of the weakest, most nonsensical arguments coming from gun-advocates in the recent days. "Trucks were used in terrorist attacks, yet no one is calling for truck bans." Please. Trucks are made for driving, not for killing. 99.99% of trucks are used for the correct reasons. Guns are make for one reason and one reason only. And when someone uses them in an evil way, suddenly that person is crazy for using them correctly? And somehow it's not supposed to come back to the fact that they were able to obtain a gun in the first place? All logic has gone out the window

I know that I'm more extreme than most- that most people are ok with better background checks and
stricter laws- that weapons used for hunting are fine, or keeping a gun in your house for "protection" is fine. Tell that to the mothers who have lost children to gun accidents (because even the most carefully hidden and secured guns are findable. Children are nothing if not nosy and resourceful- a terrible combination when it comes to keeping them safe). Tell the parents and the children and the husbands and wives of the victims in Las Vegas. Tell it to the Columbine and Sandy Hook parents who lost their babies. Look them in the eye and tell them that we don't need to change things in a major way.

So my friend list is slightly smaller. Not because I don't want to engage with ideas that differ from mine. It's that I can't engage with people and ideas that are so far beyond logic. I can't engage with people who are blind to the suffering of others. Now, more than ever, is the time for compassion. We seem to have it in spades after the fact. I can only hope that we figure out how to put it first and let it drive us to overcome the opposition to common sense that has kept us in this dark place we find our country in.