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| ©Associated Press, Ken McGagh |
"The week from Hell". This is how some newscasters are describing the events of this past week. First the bombing in Boston; then the horrific explosion in West, Texas. One deliberate and one allegedly accidental. The results were the same -- indelible images on our television screens of horror, pain, and anxiety, as the search for the bombers in Boston and the search for more victims in West kept us glued to our television sets. Lives lost. Bodies maimed. Life would never be the same for the victims nor those of us who witnessed the devastation.
As I shed tears, I prayed over and over for the victims, the first responders and volunteers, and the witnesses - especially the tiny ones who must have been terrified. As the days wore on and we discovered the identities of the two young men who perpetrated this attack on the innocent, I found myself sending up prayers for them as well. Especially the younger one. As he was being tracked like an animal, and believed to be wounded, I thought of his youth. He was still only a boy, had to be in pain, and scared out of his mind. His classmates, friends, and teachers all spoke so highly of him. What could anyone, even his older brother do to change him so dramatically?
What happened to what appeared to be happy, well-liked, and seemingly well adjusted young immigrants to our country, that turned them into monsters willing to take the lives of so many? I feel one answer to this for the older one must lie in the trip he took to Russia last year. The months he might have been involved with a radical Islamic group of some kind, being brainwashed and trained to be a killer -- for Allah. How does a religion so twist the minds of followers to condone such massacres as occur much too frequently in our world? How did life become so unbearable for the younger of the two, who seemed to have so much good in his life -- many friends and even a scholarship -- that he could throw that all away by the influence of his older brother?
We may never know the true answers to these questions. The world is filled with violence that is so much more visible than in years past. Remember, these young men were exposed to war and violence on a daily basis as children in their homeland. They sought and found refuge in our United States. They, as all of our young people, have been exposed to more and more frequent violence via the social media, violent video games, television, movies, and the headlines from around the world where man's inhumanity to man is constantly vying for their attention. The often gory images are imprinted on young minds.
Too many people are quick to lay the blame upon Islam. Islam is not the first religion to kill "for the sake of God or Allah". Christianity has a dark past as well. The Crusades, the Inquisition, even the Salem witch trials come to mind. Blaming this horrendous happening upon lax immigration laws is equally fruitless. These young men had been here for a decade, and the younger one was a naturalized citizen. They were not illegal.. or newly arrived. I am by no means condoning the slaughter that took place in Boston. I do believe that punishment should be meted out. If the young man survives, he will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, filled with regret that he wasted the beautiful promises his life in America held. That is the least that he deserves.
One glaring item that caught my attention was the fact that the older brother was tagged by a foreign government as someone the FBI should investigate. They did so, which means they have a file on him. If we had had stricter background checks in place, perhaps when he purchased a gun or at least the gunpowder used in the making of the bombs a flag would have been raised and the tragedy might have been prevented.
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The Newtown shootings and the Aurora theater massacre each inflicted more fatalities than Boston. We must not let the Boston bombings deter our resolve to do something about gun control in this country. We have our own homegrown terrorists, produced in part by the availability of assault weapons, high capacity magazines, and ineffective or unenforced background checks. The recent action of the Senate in refusing to pass legislation that would be a start towards reducing the number of guns, and on the path to reducing violence in our country, is absolutely disgusting. They lack the courage to stand up to the gun lobbyists in the form of gun manufacturers and the NRA, which is now controlled by the manufacturers. Polls show that the majority of Americans want this legislation NOW! When are we going to insist our representatives do the will of the people or be voted out??
As I shed tears, I prayed over and over for the victims, the first responders and volunteers, and the witnesses - especially the tiny ones who must have been terrified. As the days wore on and we discovered the identities of the two young men who perpetrated this attack on the innocent, I found myself sending up prayers for them as well. Especially the younger one. As he was being tracked like an animal, and believed to be wounded, I thought of his youth. He was still only a boy, had to be in pain, and scared out of his mind. His classmates, friends, and teachers all spoke so highly of him. What could anyone, even his older brother do to change him so dramatically?
What happened to what appeared to be happy, well-liked, and seemingly well adjusted young immigrants to our country, that turned them into monsters willing to take the lives of so many? I feel one answer to this for the older one must lie in the trip he took to Russia last year. The months he might have been involved with a radical Islamic group of some kind, being brainwashed and trained to be a killer -- for Allah. How does a religion so twist the minds of followers to condone such massacres as occur much too frequently in our world? How did life become so unbearable for the younger of the two, who seemed to have so much good in his life -- many friends and even a scholarship -- that he could throw that all away by the influence of his older brother?
We may never know the true answers to these questions. The world is filled with violence that is so much more visible than in years past. Remember, these young men were exposed to war and violence on a daily basis as children in their homeland. They sought and found refuge in our United States. They, as all of our young people, have been exposed to more and more frequent violence via the social media, violent video games, television, movies, and the headlines from around the world where man's inhumanity to man is constantly vying for their attention. The often gory images are imprinted on young minds.
Too many people are quick to lay the blame upon Islam. Islam is not the first religion to kill "for the sake of God or Allah". Christianity has a dark past as well. The Crusades, the Inquisition, even the Salem witch trials come to mind. Blaming this horrendous happening upon lax immigration laws is equally fruitless. These young men had been here for a decade, and the younger one was a naturalized citizen. They were not illegal.. or newly arrived. I am by no means condoning the slaughter that took place in Boston. I do believe that punishment should be meted out. If the young man survives, he will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, filled with regret that he wasted the beautiful promises his life in America held. That is the least that he deserves.
One glaring item that caught my attention was the fact that the older brother was tagged by a foreign government as someone the FBI should investigate. They did so, which means they have a file on him. If we had had stricter background checks in place, perhaps when he purchased a gun or at least the gunpowder used in the making of the bombs a flag would have been raised and the tragedy might have been prevented.
.png)
The Newtown shootings and the Aurora theater massacre each inflicted more fatalities than Boston. We must not let the Boston bombings deter our resolve to do something about gun control in this country. We have our own homegrown terrorists, produced in part by the availability of assault weapons, high capacity magazines, and ineffective or unenforced background checks. The recent action of the Senate in refusing to pass legislation that would be a start towards reducing the number of guns, and on the path to reducing violence in our country, is absolutely disgusting. They lack the courage to stand up to the gun lobbyists in the form of gun manufacturers and the NRA, which is now controlled by the manufacturers. Polls show that the majority of Americans want this legislation NOW! When are we going to insist our representatives do the will of the people or be voted out??
Martin Richard (R.I.P.)
And when are we going to do as the youngest victim in Boston said, "No more hurting people"?
God bless the wounded, dead, and hurting victims of Boston and West, Texas.
"Peace", Martin,
Marilyn
Amen to everything you said in this post. How many more broken-hearted communities will our President have to comfort because of the tragedies that are heaped upon us one after the other before our legislators are willing to come together to address changes in the availability of weapons to people who have no business having them? I am also so saddened for the people in West, Texas, in their tragedy of lost ones and homes. It has truly been a horrendous week for this country.
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