From: Jonathan Lamb
Muncie
The mass shooting in Las Vegas was simply senseless violence. There is no reason to point fingers and blame anyone or anything. There are 59 dead and more than 520 injured. The headlines are all too common. It would seem that all sides and all Americans would agree we cannot, should not, and will not tolerate one more tragedy. The time for finger pointing is over; let’s find the root and fix the real problem.
It is all too easy to place blame. It is not society, not government, it is not the laws or is it the lack of laws. It is you and it is I. We need to start at home, with self, and with family. We need to stand up and say something when we see something. We need a system of mental health and education. We need strong families and strong values. We need to be willing to give and get help. We need to have the uncomfortable conversations with ourselves and loved ones.
We must look within, and look up. It is us; it is our children, our neighbors, our community, our towns, our state and our country. It all starts at home. Why does it take the killing of 59 people to grab headlines? This happens every day, everywhere, in one form or another, and it is all tragic. The senseless killing of 59 is tragic. The loss of one life is tragic. Tragedy takes place every day right here at home, in our families and our communities; it is overdose, murder, suicide and drunken driving loss that have become all too common.
The loss of 59 lives in one place at one time. Simply tragic. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2016 we lost 60,070 Americans to drug overdoses. Drug deaths take place one at a time. They add up. Wake up, America! We lose more than 164 people to drug deaths every day! Illegal drugs are just that, illegal, yet we lose more than 164 Americans daily; that is almost seven people each and every hour of the day. They are gone, never coming back.
It is not laws or lack of laws on drugs, on guns, or on drunk driving that are killing us, it is us. We are doing this; we are letting it happen to us, to our families, to our communities and to our country. This is a wake-up call; we cannot hide in the shadow of loss any longer.
It seems that it takes fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and terror to bring America together. We need to come together outside of single tragic events. We need to stop the blame, and start the solutions. Solutions begin within and they begin at home.
Enough is enough. Let’s be part of the solution. United we stand, divided we fall.
