Is it Time to Rescue Us?

Our world is changing at a quantum rate. I'm old enough to remember when most people had a tube version black and white TV. Early on, in my life, we used to sit outside on lawn chairs with all of the neighbors and wait for Telstar to streak through the late evening sky.

There were no personal computers. Most people had a dial phone and some still had a party line. My father loved to listen to Mario Lanza records on his beloved console stereo system. People drove big metal cars from Detroit. For the most part, people respected each other and incidences of mass shootings were virtually unheard of.

This weekend, within a few hours, two dreadful acts of carnage were inflicted on innocent people by gunman bent on killing. On the heels of this tragic event came the blithering rhetoric of politicians. Any normal person would consider these events as heinous acts against our fellow citizens, but it seems that our elected representatives take the opportunity to further the gap between themselves by promoting their own platform.

I gave it some thought and I pondered through some metaphoric oxymorons that I believe apopro. I have quite a few friends who are hunters. That's not unusual because my state, Pennsylvania, has more guns per capita than any other in the union. Consider that statement, if you didn't already know that fact, and you'll have a better understanding of the overwhelmingly rural nature of the Keystone state.

Hunters love nothing less than shooting a deer. I also know hunters who've successfully shot bear, elk, and moose. Basically, to my understanding and I am not a hunter, you sit quietly in the woods until an animal wanders by and then pop it with a 30-30 bullet. Seems a little heartless, to me, but I'm not a hunter.

How many times have you seen a news story where a deer falls through the ice in the middle of a frozen lake and a line of people risk their lives to rescue the animal. This is not only true with deer, but I've seen many stories about people risking their lives for dogs in the same situation. People seem to have a great deal of confusion about the value of their lives vs. innocent animals.

Why not each other then? It seems to me that, if we go out of our way to rescue animals, that we should do the same for each other. Politicians, and those in power, benefit by widening the gap between us. Despite our political or social difference, we have one thing in common: we are human.

Stories abound about children who have fallen down abandoned wells or been caught in other perilous situations. A while ago an entire soccer team was trapped in a cave. The world watched breathless until the rescue was made. Then we all rejoiced. When we act together for the benefit of a few we all win.

It's far from time that we joined together in a coalition of disparate peoples to rescue each other from our leadership and from the terrible consequences of politicians using us as pawns. Where is a great leader, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., who can guide all of us out of the mire we've created by learning how to hate each other?

There's no room in our society for mass killings. We've got to band together before these events are commonplace - if they aren't already. We can't wait for self-serving politicians to rescue us. Is it time that we, as a coalition of disparate people, took back our country?

Bruce G. Bennett