What kind of world...

are we living in?

30 years ago, when I was a small child, you didn't worry about being killed at school, but today, I spent the day holding my breath, hoping that nothing would happen while my kids were at school.

Then, while I was driving to pick them up, 2 explosions went off near the finish-line of the Boston Marathon. Last I've read, there were 3 dead and hundreds injured.

Both of these things occurred on the day North Korea had threatened a nuclear attack on either Japan or the US.

Despite all of this, I'm not scared. I'm angry. Angry that there are so many people out there with no other goal in their small lives than to hurt or kill as many people as possible. Angry that there are people out there who take pleasure in instilling fear on innocent people. Angry that I have to have conversations about people killing children with my own young children.

Between the theater in Colorado, the college campus in in Texas, the elementary school in Massachusetts, and the marathon in Boston, we wonder if  we can be safe anywhere.

There needs to be some MASSIVE overhauling of our mental health system. As a society, we need to remove the stigmas attached to mental disorders and get these people some help. Doctors shouldn't have to FEAR admitting patients who exhibit mental issues. Parents shouldn't have to FEAR asking a doctor for help when they see signs of mental illness.

Shit happens. It happens everyday. Why is it okay for someone to seek cancer treatment so they can live a long healthy life, but not for someone who exhibits signs of mental illness (or their family members for them) to seek the same kind of healthy life?  They didn't ask to have the
 illness thrust upon them, just as people with horrible physical illnesses didn't ask either.

I'm not saying "commit them all and throw away the key" by any means. I'm saying "GET THEM HELP!" Getting these folks help could prevent so many tragedies. Not just the massive killings, but the suicides, the single homicides, a WHOLE plethora of terrible incidents.

I'm also a proponent of "an eye for an eye" when it comes to terrorism. I know people always scream "violence only begets violence," and I agree, but I also think, "You've got to speak the same language to resolve a problem."

The status quo isn't working. Looking out for just ourselves isn't working. Look out for your neighbor. Look out for your neighbor's neighbor. Look out for your neighbor's neighbor's neighbor.

Don't live in fear of anything, especially change!

~Kim