Yesterday, we had several people over at our apartment for a potluck brunch, primarily to celebrate the end of the semester for Franco and his teacher colleagues. At one point, I was acting as DJ and put on "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads. Almost immediately after the first chorus, Franco said, "Josh, don't you think it's a little too soon for this song?" He was joking, and everyone laughed, albeit somewhat nervously. We had spent the first part of the day talking about the horrible tragedy in Connecticut, which certainly dampened what was supposed to be a festive gathering of friends. Nobody had much to say, other than how awful it was and how on point The Onion's coverage of the shootings was. What can you say, after all?
When you're 12,000 miles away, it's sometimes tough to get a sense for the pulse of the nation. News coverage is patchy at best, and is often confined to online media -- soundbytes, blogs, and e-journalism -- rather than live news. There's nothing wrong with this -- I have way more access to news now, even in China, than I would have 10 years ago, let alone when my parents' generation was my age -- it just sometimes is difficult to put a finger on what's going on back home. Not so with the reaction to the Connecticut shootings. From Facebook to the New York Times, calls for tighter gun restrictions became ubiquitous, mere minutes after the echoes of gunfire had tolled through the halls of Sandy Hook. On the other side, right wing protectors of the right to bear arms began their defense of the semi-automatic weapons by calling for restrictions on gun ownership for those with mental illness, or, from the particularly insightful Mike Huckabee, just blaming the schools.
It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone where I fall on that particular issue. Guns kill people. The guns that are used to kill deer are not the same guns that are used to kill children. And if those guns that were used to murder 27 people on Friday were not so easily accessible, the self-defense argument would be moot. That's all I'm going to say on that. This blog is not going to enter that particular fray, but rather offer my own reaction to the news, which was twofold. The first was utter dispair. I, like many other people who have grown up in the post-September 11th world, have become accustomed to news of death and destruction. As embarrassed as I am to admit it, my reaction to most news of this sort is "really? again?" I don't think I'm alone in this regard. But to think that 20 children, still young enough to exist beyond the borders of this sensationalist-media world in which we live, were mowed down -- by someone four years younger than me -- and that dozens more will now live for the rest of their lives with images and sounds permanently etched into their sense memories...it just shatters me. My second reaction, just as powerful, was one of longing; for my parents, brother, grandfather, and friends back home -- all of whom will have to accept cyber hugs from me in lieu of the real thing. I am lucky to be alive, to have never been shot at, and to have all of you in my life.
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