Regarding the recent talk of gun control due to the terrible shootings in Connecticut.
First, when we outlaw guns only the outlaws will have guns. It’s an old saying but one I have always believed. Do I see a need for the public to own assault guns? Absolutely not. But I want to continue to have the right to hunt with a gun or own a gun for my protection if I so choose.
What makes me so mad about the political and media craze over “gun control” is that no one wants to look at the real problem. This country is failing our children.
I didn’t grow up in a perfect home. It wasn’t without its dysfunction. My parents divorced in a time when it wasn’t popular. Their divorce was painful as divorces are. However back then parents worked harder to protect and care for their children.
Children were a parent’s priority, regardless of marital status. There was never a doubt in our minds that our parents loved us. They cared about our grades, who our friends were, and where we were. They worked hard to make sure we were not liars and thieves and tried to instill a work ethic in us so we would expect nothing for free. They were there—from two different homes— but they were there. When we got into trouble, it was their trouble too.
Today many children are raising themselves. So many parents—I know not all parents, I know there are many good parents out there—are too busy with their social lives, their alcohol or drug use. They don’t know where their children are or what they are doing. They don’t get or care that they are hungry or lonely or confused. There are no boundaries between parent and child; no safety or security. Children are being left with strangers or being raised by aging grandparents. They are being abused physically, sexually and mentally by some of the very adults that are supposed to care for them. It’s tragic. It’s shameful. Children simply are not a priority in many homes anymore.
So when a child finds themselves desperate or in trouble who do we blame? The child. They cannot win.
We need to look to ourselves for a change and quit worrying about what we want. If you choose to have a child, then take care of them. Teach them; love them. If you cannot commit to this then use birth control for goodness sake.
One more thing, our society is also failing the mentally ill. We drug them and set them free without anyone to monitor their lives. Shame on us. Shame on the medical profession. Shame, shame.
Anna Hamilton
Grand Marais
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