Odd Balls - Ticking Time Bombs Good Morning! I've still got a hard time to wrap my mind about what happened last Friday in Newtown/ CT. If I'm not mistaken, this shooting premiered for the very first time at an Elementary school, in a small and quaint community away from the urban hustle and bustle, and cost more lives than any other school massacre in the US. I'd be lying were I to claim I was not predominately opinionated on the topic gun control myself and lingering upon it through Sunday. Then after a long string of repeatedly and exclusively resuming the therapeutic talk about last Friday's tragic incident, my husband cleverly steered the endless talk about useless gun violence into a totally different direction. "Look, that kid would have done what he did anyway, no matter what."
I wasn't quite sure at that point where that was going to lead us, but I kept stubbornly saying,"Why on earth are assault rifles even semi- automatic ones still legally sold in this country? What the hell did this woman need a semi- automatic assault rifle for? Wouldn't a simple weapon such as a rifle, a pistol or a revolver have done enough of a job to protect her against potential burglars?" My husband let me vent patiently, then again and calmly referred to the historical facts which had led to the Second Amendment of the American Constitution, and finally concluded his initial statement saying,
"Again, that dude would have found different ways of executing his sick plan. Guns don't kill people, but people do. There are plenty of different tools and materials he could have applied." - I know, I know. There's apparently such a stigma on today's society to just mention, let alone discuss mental illnesses publicly, although this country like no other commendably pays a lot of attention to integrating the physically and mentally handicapped. The funds still appear to be sufficient for their care and treatment in special facilities. Thus those folks are under permanent observation and in different programs usually in isolated and institutionalized surroundings, and that's good. However, quite obviously nobody wants to deal with the sad fact that there are many more cases of mental and especially emotional retardation to be found among us, and for exactly this reason another 27 lives were taken in just another senseless act of violence. Odd balls are out there as manifold as officially classified and registered patients. Don't tell me, it is a perfectly normal behavior of a kid or teenager to be a super genius at something and at the same time socially totally shot because it's not.
Autism, as unfortunate as this may sound, is clearly another form of mental disturbance and displays a staggeringly vast spectrum of different kinds and severities. If Asperger's is just another one of these many facets, why is it going to be removed off the list of mental illnesses that used to be publicly funded? Does not make sense at all, if you ask me! You see, that's the problem. We cannot preach equality in terms of retardation and keep classifying visibly obvious cases such as Down Syndrome as worth being institutionalized and funded but leave odd balls in the private care of their parents.
The likelihood of the latter running around like ticking time bombs that might potentially turn lethal is very high. Of course, we cannot put every nut case into some facility as quite frankly, every second person would one way or another make a good candidate for the wacky ward, myself included, but it is our all responsibility as fellow men and women, parents and teachers to closely monitor those that behave awkwardly bipolar or, well, dangerously autistically. Thousands of parents need a hand as they often feel completely helpless and overwhelmed with their situations behind closed doors.
We truly need to stop looking away or close our eyes in the face of reality, nor should we ever turn around and pretend that it is none of our business or responsibility. Money must be provided where need calls for, and mentally ill people just like odd balls should not just be medicated and released but tended to in mental hospitals. In fact, the gun industry could show good will and donate a good chunk of their yearly trillion dollar profits. This might be used to do just that. The transfer of wealth for a good cause would go a long ways, take the pressure off individuals and create more stability and safety for all of us. Last but not least, check out this touching article on gawker.com called I am Adam Lanza's Mother by Liza Long.
I wasn't quite sure at that point where that was going to lead us, but I kept stubbornly saying,"Why on earth are assault rifles even semi- automatic ones still legally sold in this country? What the hell did this woman need a semi- automatic assault rifle for? Wouldn't a simple weapon such as a rifle, a pistol or a revolver have done enough of a job to protect her against potential burglars?" My husband let me vent patiently, then again and calmly referred to the historical facts which had led to the Second Amendment of the American Constitution, and finally concluded his initial statement saying,
"Again, that dude would have found different ways of executing his sick plan. Guns don't kill people, but people do. There are plenty of different tools and materials he could have applied." - I know, I know. There's apparently such a stigma on today's society to just mention, let alone discuss mental illnesses publicly, although this country like no other commendably pays a lot of attention to integrating the physically and mentally handicapped. The funds still appear to be sufficient for their care and treatment in special facilities. Thus those folks are under permanent observation and in different programs usually in isolated and institutionalized surroundings, and that's good. However, quite obviously nobody wants to deal with the sad fact that there are many more cases of mental and especially emotional retardation to be found among us, and for exactly this reason another 27 lives were taken in just another senseless act of violence. Odd balls are out there as manifold as officially classified and registered patients. Don't tell me, it is a perfectly normal behavior of a kid or teenager to be a super genius at something and at the same time socially totally shot because it's not.
Autism, as unfortunate as this may sound, is clearly another form of mental disturbance and displays a staggeringly vast spectrum of different kinds and severities. If Asperger's is just another one of these many facets, why is it going to be removed off the list of mental illnesses that used to be publicly funded? Does not make sense at all, if you ask me! You see, that's the problem. We cannot preach equality in terms of retardation and keep classifying visibly obvious cases such as Down Syndrome as worth being institutionalized and funded but leave odd balls in the private care of their parents.
The likelihood of the latter running around like ticking time bombs that might potentially turn lethal is very high. Of course, we cannot put every nut case into some facility as quite frankly, every second person would one way or another make a good candidate for the wacky ward, myself included, but it is our all responsibility as fellow men and women, parents and teachers to closely monitor those that behave awkwardly bipolar or, well, dangerously autistically. Thousands of parents need a hand as they often feel completely helpless and overwhelmed with their situations behind closed doors.
We truly need to stop looking away or close our eyes in the face of reality, nor should we ever turn around and pretend that it is none of our business or responsibility. Money must be provided where need calls for, and mentally ill people just like odd balls should not just be medicated and released but tended to in mental hospitals. In fact, the gun industry could show good will and donate a good chunk of their yearly trillion dollar profits. This might be used to do just that. The transfer of wealth for a good cause would go a long ways, take the pressure off individuals and create more stability and safety for all of us. Last but not least, check out this touching article on gawker.com called I am Adam Lanza's Mother by Liza Long.
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