When I heard the news about Las Vegas, I wanted to grab my “children” and head for the hills.
Pack up and move to a secluded place, safer than New York. Of course, I can’t grab 35-and 38-year-old adults whose lives are anchored here. Besides, nowhere seems safe today. Safe from natural disasters. Safe from deeply disturbed people. And, there are more of both every year. Everywhere. Anywhere.
I am frightened, for my family, more than for myself. My heart goes out to all those parents who lost children today. I honestly don’t know how I could go on living if something happened to mine.
I am frightened for our world. It seems to be hanging in such a precarious balance now. One day, you’re living on a beautiful peaceful island. The next, your world is destroyed. Your home is gone. Your job is gone. Where is your future?
One moment, you’re enjoying a concert. The next, people are dying and screaming around you. You’re too scared to scream. You run faster than you ever imagined possible.
How can we protect our children, our homes, our futures? What is causing one tragedy after another? Are “natural disasters” totally “natural,” or is man contributing to them?
Are sick people just born that way, or does the world help turn some who are well into monsters?
Talking heads all over cable TV and on the internet analyze the latest disaster ad nauseum, then promptly drop the discussion when the next one pops up. Hurricane in Houston one week. A lunatic running wild in Las Vegas the next. Yet, no one seems to take charge to try and change the course of human events.
I heard a smart commentator suggest that we shouldn’t be running from hurricanes, but should start figuring out how to protect ourselves and our cities from them.
And, even if we can’t stop an earthquake or a 135 mile per hour wind and rain storm from bearing down on us, maybe, just maybe, we can stop a sick man from mowing us down. Or help him before his illness engulfs him.
I am sick and tired of hearing our elected officials spouting sound bites about tragedy after tragedy, but doing little if anything to corral the great resources of America to lessen or obviate them. I don’t give a damn if the governor of Nevada, the mayor of Houston, or the President of the United States tells us how strong we are in the face of tragedy, anymore than I thought Mayor Giuliani was a leader after 911.
Why don’t leaders like Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin (no relation) use their world-wide platforms to bring people together to do more than watch video clips of kittens and artistic elephants, connect with our long lost high school boyfriends, and post pictures of grinning babies and bridal showers? They’ve got the power to persuade us to be bigger, better and bolder together. They can start with a joint Facebook-Google effort to encourage anyone with a spare room to help house the homeless people of Puerto Rico. They could work with the airlines and cruise ship lines to coordinate the transportation. Amazon could donate new clothes to each family.