Sunday, February 18, 2018

What in the World?

Dear Shawn,

The other night I was watching some of the Winter Olympics from South Korea on line. This is the only way I can watch them at home, since I don’t have regular TV. It was neat to see them cover some of what I loved about my visits to Korea. They showed a segment on making kimchi, a dish I never fully appreciated until having fresh, Korean-made kimchi. They showed a variety of street food, which I have previously savored, a tea ceremony, which I enjoyed once after meeting a woman on the flight, who invited me to her tea room. I found myself really missing Seoul.

Another thing I enjoyed, was seeing how people, athletes in particular, can gather from all around the world, putting aside political differences and with good sportsmanship, come together in a global community, to bring us all a little closer as we cheer the athletes on. Sure, we root for our hometown countries the most, but you can’t help but cheer any good routine.

Then I read a little blurb about another school shooting. This one was in Florida, and the headline mentioned seventeen dead. I cried. With nothing but that information. Normally, I would turn my TV on, navigate my Roku to CBS news, and follow along. This time, I could not do that. I did not want to hear about more kids being killed in school.

I don’t have solid feelings about gun control. I do think more needs to be done. I do feel strongly that Americans should have guns. I do not like seeing them in public and I do not feel that the average citizen needs assault rifles. I do know that we need to do more for mental illness. I also feel strongly that we should refer to those who do this type of terror, well, terrorists. That is what they are.

These days, I watch very little news. The news always seems to stress me out unlike ever before. So here I am, several days after this terror in Florida, and I’ve yet to watch the news, or read about it. It turns out that a pilot I know lost his daughter in that shooting. Again, I cried. It’s just not right. What are we going to do in America? I need a slice of pie. Pecan?

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