It started with a distraction.
Yes, something just that simple. It could have ended right there, faded away without more than a passing thought, but it didn't. Because, as I said, this was just the start.
In the morning, I happened to look up while in PurDude's bedroom.
But then that afternoon brought a text from College Boy that took my breath away. And had me looking at the morning's distraction with new eyes.
And the evening? In the evening it was the national news.
So, the beginning:
That morning, I'd brought towels and toiletries into PurDude's room. I was leaving them on his bed as he'd be coming home soon. Why I didn't just leave it all there and walk out, I don't know. But I sat down on his bed and looked up at the bulletin board that had been on his wall for years. At the very top was a commendation from his job. He'd been a lifeguard in high school, and had continued in the summers when he was home from college.
He had saved a life.
I hate hearing that fact diminished by those who say that first responders specifically (but lifeguards and many others too) are just doing their jobs when they save a life. They may just be doing their jobs, but these are jobs that they chose, study for, train for, and practice. They know that an integral part of what they will do is to take action when someone's life is at risk. It is an awesome responsibility.
Truth is, someone is still walking and living and doing all things large and small in their life because at their moment of need, someone came to their aid. There is enormity in the miracle of that, brought about by people who value humanity enough to take on protecting it.
In a strange coincidence, that afternoon brought me the exact opposite story. One of someone no longer walking and living and doing all things large and small in their life. It wasn't because first responders hadn't come to his aid, they did. It just wasn't enough.
College Boy sent me a picture that he took outside his work at lunchtime. "Awful car crash right by my work," he texted, "see the helicopter, someone is getting airlifted. I think someone died." We texted back and forth a bit, both of us deeply affected, expressing how heartbreaking it is to see that kind of response, understanding the seriousness of the situation, and hoping everyone would be OK.
They weren't. A motorcyclist was airlifted to the hospital but didn't make it.
Neither of us knew the people involved in the crash, but that didn't matter. When you are witness to a moment like this, even if it's just through viewing the scope of the aftermath, how do you not take a moment to acknowledge the frailty of life? The reality of the abrupt ending of a human life on an anonymous Friday at lunchtime? How do you not empathize, right down to your bones, with the family and friends about to get that phone call? Our humanity demands it.
Juxtaposed with that evening's proof of the pervasive rise of the opposite, man's inhumanity to man.
We were out on the deck having a drink and some appetizers. It was supposed to be a relaxing end to the day.
Sweet Hot Mango Dip
But I had just shut off the national news. In the past month, we've been aware of not just the growing number of mass shooting, but additionally, the shocking rash of executions of kids guilty of just one thing, making a mistake. As with mass shootings, each one is an assault not just on our way of life but, more personally on our sense of safety and our emotional health.
People, everyday citizens, are shooting children for ringing their doorbell, turning around in their driveway, mistaking a like car for their own, or allowing a basketball to roll onto a neighbor's lawn.
I'm a gun control advocate. No, we don't want to take away all guns, but we do want, we demand, responsible gun ownership. Actually, I take that back, I DO want to take all assault weapons from citizens. For all other gun sales (including shows and private sales) there must be laws, national standards, including screening, mandatory safety, instruction, and regular reviews.
The first step is screening. We need to screen for criminal records, and specific (but not all) mental health conditions. As much we, as a society, like to blame the mentally ill, truth is that not all shooters are mentally ill, and very few people with mental health diagnoses (about 25% of our adult population) are violent.
But what the morning, afternoon, and evening of just one day brought me to is a question.
If a fundamental respect for human life, all human life, is not an involuntary function in someone, like breathing and blinking, then I need to know.
Basic humanity. How do you screen for that?
Sweet Hot Mango Dip
©www.BakingInATornado.com
1/2 cup onion and chive cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup pepper jelly
1 ripe mango
chips or crackers for serving
Directions:
*Whisk together the cream cheese, sour cream, and pepper jelly.
*Whisk together the cream cheese, sour cream, and pepper jelly.
*Peel the mango and remove the pit. Slice a few pieces and refrigerate for garnish.
*Chop the remaining mango (small pieces) and fold into the dip, cover, and refrigerate for an hour.
*Top with the reserved mango slices and serve with chips or crackers of your choice.
