January 24, 2013

• Opinion: Paper Politics

  I’m just going to be blunt. I’m…perhaps…going to even sound unChristian. But this is not said as a personal attack, nor without compassion and understanding regarding those who view this matter differently.

  If you are for gun control laws, and further think they’ll actually do any good towards actually preventing gun-related crimes…you’re a fool. A damned-in-the-head fool.

  For this “war on guns” has become beyond absurd. It has virtually ignored the greater issue: the person pulling the trigger, the person committing the crime regardless of the weapon. This issue has become so embroiled against guns that a child recently was punished with a 10-day suspension for playfully telling her best friend she was going to shoot her with a Hello Kitty bubble-blowing gun. The girls hugged every day at school and had no ill-intent towards each other. Oh, but it’s not so bad because the suspension got reduced to two days.

  And now a certain young lady in fifth grade got severely harassed because she pulled out piece of paper that looked remotely like a gun. That’s all she did – she pulled it out. She didn’t point it at anyone. She didn’t make like it was a game. She was just going to throw it away and suddenly she’s public school enemy number one.

  This child was then accused of being a murderer and harassed with claims that she could be arrested! Over a piece of paper?! The worst part is that this did not come simply from fellow (immature) classmates, but from the administration! Those adults who are supposed to be intelligent enough to understand the sensitive hearts of our youth and wise enough not to blow a simple matter out of proportion!

  Let me be clear. This report (see the link below) did not try to link this incident with the whole gun control drama. And that’s good. However, it’s evident that this report was certainly hot news in light of this political stupidity we are now tangled up in. A fifth grader was treated with such evil over a ridiculous piece of paper that someone imagined to be a weapon of terror.

  You know…I remember a time in my childhood when I would grind popsicle sticks to a point and I’d have my own knife. I had no inclination to actually hurt anyone. I was a boy and a warrior. I was on a mission to be a hero in my own backyard game. But, I did use it on a kid once…because he was swinging a garden hose around and tried to hit me. He did, right in the leg, and I let my immature anger lead me to chase him down, tackle him, and stab him in the back several times. You know what the saddest part is? I remember pulling my “knife” out of my pocket and telling him something to the effect that it “had to be done”. Pitiful…whatever my words were verbatim. The good news is that he was not in the least seriously injured. He never had to go to the hospital. I didn’t draw any blood. But I did hurt him badly. The even better news is that I was severely punished by my loving parents. The kid’s mom came to meet with my parents and they maturely resolved the problem like adults…which I clearly was not on many levels that day (speaking nothing about my age).

  That entire ordeal passed into my history…a sad blotch on my record. Ask anyone who knew me well – friend or family – and they’d tell you I was virtually an ideal child and well-behaved for the most part. And a great deal of that is because I was taught how to live right. The popsicle knife didn’t pull itself out of my pocket, walk down my, leg, and jump up and down on the kid’s back repeatedly. Do you know also what didn’t happen? Popsicles were not banned from my household. Future visits to the grocery store did not forever exclude the occasional frozen fruity treat. And the wooden sticks that were left over were of no concern. In fact, I wonder if my mom or dad even remember the event. It’s never been brought up once since.

  But if the issue over “popsicle stick control” arose, would we be “up in arms” if someone cut out a strip of paper that remotely looked like a flimsy piece of wood with colored stains? Is our social mentality in such decline and disarray? Not yet…but when a child is facing nightmares because of a small piece of paper that resembles - slightly – the shape of a gun, then we’re too bloody close. Would we raid the grocery stores and confiscate all the popsicles? Would we burn them on site?

  It’s “for the children!” Right?

  When we hold to our ideals – whether right or wrong – so tightly that we lose any sight of rational thought that our very behavior only perpetuates or adds problems, then solutions are only going to be few and far between…at best.

  That little girl did nothing wrong. She was just throwing away a piece of paper. For crying out loud, the thing wasn’t even loaded.

  SOURCE:
  http://www.myfoxphilly.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8219044

  • 2:37 am
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