Subject Lint Correction: It’s All So Complicated

Another mass shooting erupts. This one occurs on one of the most sacred days on the secular caledary: the 4^th of July. 

The next day, I receive the following text from a family member, who is passing this text on from a teacher who had the shooter as a student in grade school: 

He was very troubled even then. His parents were divorced….He was school averse. We had weekly meetings about him and with him and his family. Honestly, if you asked me to pinpoint, out of all the students I taught over 30 years, he would fit the “active mass shooter” profile the most profoundly! He was such a loner…he was so closed off…

I have many vices. And one of them is binge watching – especially fast breaking news stories and enticing series. Whoa is me when I get hooked. House plants die. Texts and e mails go unanswered. Bills get paid late. And the wash piles up.

Just days before July 4^th, I finished watching Outlanders – a seven-part saga centering on time travel back to the 1700’s. The last season prompted me to ask myself a tantalizing question about the American Revolutionary War that I had absolutely never thought about before: On whose side were the Native Americans? The British or the Colonists?

Having no clue, as always, I asked my friends – many of whom are retired teachers. Reaction: dead silence. Followed by, “Wow, I never remember learning about that in school.
 
What we all were taught was the Pledge of Allegiance, which we religiously recited out loud every morning.

 

Historian Rebecca Beatrice Brooks cites: Many Native American tribes fought in the Revolutionary War. The majority of these tribes fought for the British but a few fought for the Americans. Many of these tribes tried to remain neutral in the early phase of the war but when some of them came under attack by American militia, they decided to join the British.

Why we were not taught the Native American stance on the War? Probably because the colonists and the Europeans were all the interlopers – treating the tribal people, their land, rituals and beliefs shamelessly.
 
Liberty and justice for all?
     Slaves counted as three-fifths of a free individual 
     Japanese-American West Coast residents were interred during World War 2
     Women were denied the right to vote until 1920 
 
We aren’t so perfect nor is our Union. And the  intervening years have tested our resolve and commitment to those ideals.
 
It’s 2022 – controversy still reigns. Here’s just a smattering:
     How to prevent mass shootings 
     The right to buy AR-style rifles
     The need for better mental health
     The status of Red Flag laws 
     The presence of incendiary websites

It’s all so complicated.  

There is a way, however, to express our opinions and make our individual voices heard.

VOTE.

The primaries are fast approaching in August – followed by the general election in November. 
 
If you haven’t registered to vote, click this link https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote
 
Vote like your vote counts – because – thank goodness at this point – it still does.
 
Keep Preserving Your Bloom
Iris Ruth Pastor