The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #134887 Message #3072645
Posted By: Stilly River Sage
11-Jan-11 - 11:27 PM
Thread Name: A space to mourn - Ariz. shootings
Subject: RE: A space to mourn - Ariz. shootings
My son is a freshman at the University of Arizona. His first day of classes are delayed a day due to the Obama visit, and I hope he is able to go hear it.
He spent his holiday break here in Texas, and this happened two days before he returned. He knew something about it, but I felt the need to prepare him for a changed city. He returned yesterday to a place that has a huge psychic wound, and his campus is now at the heart of it, as congressman Giffords heals in the university medical center. (I've heard both -man and -woman, but I'm treating it like "actor," one name for the job).
The debates will be many and varied. There is a lot of finger pointing and there is a mentally ill young man in the spotlight. I feel horror for his family - at age 22 he is an adult, there was little they could do to contain or control him. I have a brother who is mentally ill, undiagnosed and untreated. Every time I hear of a shooting in my home town, I can only cross my fingers and hope he isn't the shooter.
People are trying to pull back from the right vs left arguments, and I've heard no concession or contrition from the worst purveyors of hate. Instead, they claim high moral ground and suggest the left is using this as a way to muzzle them. Perhaps some forensic information about what this young man was thinking and doing will reveal his sources, but when all else has been discussed, look to health care. Because if good mental health care had been available, this could well have been avoided.
Rant off.
SRS