My niece’s son is doing a paper for which he has
to interview a relative. He asked me what
advice I would have for him. First I said, "Know
who/what your friends are," but that is so very difficult to do, so very
easy to say, as to be absolutely facile, fatuous non-advice. It would be far
more honest to say I don't have any.
Then he asked about the Las Vegas shooting,
which was so very senseless...”Well, I suppose not any more than the Parkland,
Columbine or any other...” I can't make sense of it in any context except
historical--you yourself live in a part of the country that is closer to its
frontier-water-wars-and-guns past than here (Iowa). Not that it was
substantially different, if you look at the role of guns in displacing the
Indians, from the East coast to the west. Violence is where we, as a culture,
have always gone for solutions, so how can we act surprised? This society has
huge problems right now: no surprise guns are coming out of the woodwork.
I have read that this is characteristic of the Christian and Islamic
religious traditions, therefore, the Crusades, etc. The Buddhist tradition to a
lesser degree. I was not in Korea long enough to say.
I have spent longer, have closer friends in
France, Germany and Israel, and speak European languages better allowing deeper
assessment. I see evidence that the wars and revolutions in Europe have
affected the people in profoundly positive ways. I remember going to lunch with
a German friend one time, disagreeing with her and saying, "We couldn't
even have this conversation in the States!" She thought I was being silly.
Notre Dame burned early this week. I also recall
going to midnight mass there with my friend Sylvie and her Jewish boyfriend
Christmas 1979. We left and went across the street to The Hunchback Café and because
we felt embarrassed at the priest’s comments about Jews.
How long before we recover from our history? I wonder.
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