A Moment of Silence
And a link for supporting victims of the latest mass shooting...
Dear readers,
What started out as a quiet week at Oldster Magazine will now be quiet for another day.
Usually I send you three or four posts a week, but the past several days I’ve needed to devote myself to some finishing touches on my forthcoming book, and plans for book promotion.
This morning I was excited to get back in the game and send you a new Oldster Magazine Questionnaire that I love. But after yesterday’s school shooting in Texas, which comes after so many other senseless mass shootings, I feel the need to pause for a moment of silence—to honor the victims, and to be still in the midst of so much anger, frustration, and grief.
I wish I knew of some action to suggest, something we could all get involved in to prevent the next mass shooting. But if such a thing were possible, there wouldn’t have been another school shooting after Sandy Hook. No, after Columbine. No, after (insert name of any other instance of senseless gun violence in this country).
I mean, I guess…vote like your life depends on it in the midterm elections…? Volunteer to canvass (in person, with postcards, via phone or text banking)…? Call your senators and congress people…? (I’m not sure those calls will make any difference, given the entrenched gridlock there. But if you’ve got time, get on the horn and give ‘em hell. Why not?)
In the immediate, I think the most valuable action is to help out the people who have been directly harmed by donating to crowdfunding campaigns. GoFundMe has created a hub of verified campaigns they recommend you donate to. I know I’m going to send some funds that way.
I’ll be back tomorrow with that Questionnaire I promised. I don’t want to further normalize such horrors by getting back to business as usual, but I also don’t want to give the gun lobby the power to effectively shut me down, emotionally, spiritually, and otherwise.
Until tomorrow.
Yours,
Sari Botton
Thanks for this post, Sari. The news yesterday was utterly horrifying, the tears are still welling up for me. Those kids, those families, that community.
I do want to add a plea, however: please don't give up on calling out those in power to do the right and reasonable thing and holding them to account. And encouraging others to do the same. While change is slower than anyone would want and can be really hard to perceive at times, please remember that it is the action of private citizens that have achieved what seemed impossible at the time, like ending slavery, enshrining women's right to vote, creating the 40 hour work week, etc. Here's a more recent example: Raphael Warnock would never have been elected to represent Georgia in the US Senate if private individuals had not worked their tails off to get people to the polls. If you haven't seen that kind of by the bootstraps on the ground work in action, you might take a closer look. It's an amazing thing to behold. So please don't give up! Write the letters to public officials, post your thoughts on social media, vote in the midterms (and help others to the same). Our kids and our country's future depends on all of us staying in the game, as flawed as it may be.
I feel that too. I normally start my work day with a Good morning to my work team on Slack, including some little tidbit of amusement or beauty or silliness or information. Faced this morning with the death count still climbing in a Texas elementary school, the two year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, and the incredible brutality of what is effectively a genocidal land grab in Ukraine, I've got nothing. I don't feel silly or amusing. I'm beyond sad. I'm empty. Exhausted. News drained. I don't even know which way to look. So, I look at my cats and take care of the people closest to me in the best way I can.