Shooting.

Preface Encaustic on Wood

The other day, two nurses happened by my studio. They wanted to know about my art, but because the school shooting had happened the day before, we could not help but talk about it. They were asking what there was to see in the area and I mentioned the flag. There is a giant American flag at Liberty Station just outside the command center. I mentioned the flag and said it would be at half mast or at least it should be and the two young nurses said they were just talking about the shooting. How young the shooter, how his mother was on drugs, how he shot his grandmother, how he wore armor, how he had multiple weapons, how he chose the fourth grade. They knew the details that I had not dared to read alone and somehow I was grateful to not be alone to learn. We talked about mental illness- they see it in the emergency room. We talked about gun control. Why do we have none? Why can anyone buy a gun with no background checks, no permit, no training? This “freedom” combined with mental illness. We talked about responsibility. If friends of the shooter knew he was at risk of harming others, why didn’t they do something? report it? help him somehow? We agreed that maybe we all need to take more responsibility for what goes on around us. It is sometimes easier to mind our own business than to notice others struggling next to us. It make be time, as American citizens to step out of our wild west individualistic- we can do it - get out of my way mindset. It may be time to look beyond our rights. I thanked the young nurses for the jobs they do. And I thought about my responsibility.