Dear America,<\/p>\n
We need to talk.<\/p>\n
I love you very much. \u00a0You are a magnificent place to live, grow up, and enjoy freedoms the strongest democracy on earth can provide. \u00a0Like any human body with an illness, though, as much as you\u2019d like to look away, you shouldn\u2019t. \u00a0You have complex and deep sicknesses afflicting your vital organs, and they need to be addressed. \u00a0These vital organs should not be removed \u2013 they should be healed. \u00a0The medicine is difficult to swallow, but if you are to continue to thrive, swallow it you must.<\/p>\n
To ALL your citizens \u2013 Please do everything you can to drop the stigma associated with mental illness and mental disabilities. \u00a0Remove the shame associated with having to see a counselor, psychiatrist, whatever. \u00a0Banish all derision and fear you might feel in your hearts for people who seek help. \u00a0If someone you love needs help, stand by them proudly for seeking it. \u00a0Smile at someone who seems alone. \u00a0Befriend them, even. \u00a0Be the person who stands up for someone being taunted. \u00a0Here\u2019s something you can say to a bully, for example \u2013 \u201cSeriously? \u00a0You have nothing better to do?\u201d and give the victim a smile and a wink. \u00a0Do it. \u00a0Be the person who raises their hand in class and says, \u201cActually, I\u2019m in therapy, too, and it\u2019s really helping. \u00a0You got a problem with that?\u201d \u00a0Yes, these matters are private, and I\u2019m not suggesting people bare all. \u00a0I do think, however, that a little more openness about the need for help for those suffering would go a long way.<\/p>\n
To the 2nd Amendment protectors: \u00a0I\u2019m one, too. \u00a0I have no desire to repeal the 2nd Amendment. I do think it\u2019s funny to watch strict Constitutionalists go insane when some people dare to suggest that literal interpretation of the 2nd Amendment might mean that owning guns should be allowed only if you are part of a well-regulated militia. \u00a0\u201cInterpret the Constitution literally EXCEPT for the Second Amendment, okay???\u201d<\/em> \u00a0No, no, I get it. \u00a0Guns are legal, and I stipulate that part of the argument. \u00a0However, anyone who DARES to suggest there aren\u2019t HUGE problems with the oversights and implementation of gun laws is living on another planet. \u00a0Gun owners \u2013 step. up. \u00a0Do something. \u00a0PLEASE support the strong enforcement of existing laws, and perhaps even be open to stricter controls where possible. \u00a0Weapons dealers \u2013 step.up. \u00a0Are you such sociopaths that your desire to make money trumps your willingness to make sure guns don\u2019t fall into the wrong hands? \u00a0I hope to God not. \u00a0I hope to God not.<\/p>\n To the Entertainment business: I beg you to resist all urges to make any money from telling this story. \u00a0While I fear you are already casting the movie, I hope you will stop feeding the sickness that makes your audiences crave more made-for-TV specials. \u00a0If you must tell these stories, tell the stories of the victims pro bono. \u00a0Have anyone working on the movie\/book\/magazine article who makes more than a school principal\u2019s salary donate their time, and have any profits from the venture donated to the care and nurturing of the victim whose story is being told. \u00a0Perhaps this would help break the cycle of incessant coverage, needless barrages of interviews, and gross exploitation of tragedy.<\/p>\n Finally, to the Media: \u00a0Please, please, please, for the love of all that is holy, STOP interviewing the children. \u00a0The ONLY ones who should be surrounding these kids are their immediate families and those entrusted with their medical and emotional care. \u00a0Do you really need that story badly enough to shove a camera in a child trauma victim\u2019s face? \u00a0Is a moving image and haunting words coming from a child whose wounds have yet to be seen and dealt with worth the views? \u00a0Will you contribute EVERY. SINGLE. PENNY. of profit your news outlet makes because of your reporting of this story to the healing and welfare of these families so traumatized? \u00a0Why? \u00a0Why must you show these children to us? \u00a0The photo of the children in a line, some hysterically crying outside their school \u2013 why? \u00a0Do you have the right to wrest control of these children\u2019s images, caught in perpetuity by your camera lens, from them and their shellshocked parents? \u00a0 I would argue not. \u00a0No, goddamn it, you do not.<\/p>\n I dispute anyone who says, \u201cIt\u2019s not the time to talk gun control, healthcare, the economy.\u201d \u00a0Oh, it\u2019s time to talk about it. \u00a0It is time right this very minute. \u00a0It\u2019s time to talk about ways to eradicate the shame this multi-faceted cultural disgrace evokes. \u00a0The indescribable, the unimaginable, the evil, and the mourning. \u00a0The heroism, too \u2013 there will be stories of heroism and self-sacrifice. \u00a0But right now, dear America, please take your medicine like a grown up. If not now, when?<\/p>\n All my love forever,<\/p>\n Aliza<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear America, We need to talk. I love you very much. \u00a0You are a magnificent place to live, grow up, and enjoy freedoms the strongest democracy on earth can provide. \u00a0Like any human body with an illness, though, as much as you\u2019d like to look away, you shouldn\u2019t. \u00a0You have complex and deep sicknesses afflicting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1603,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,117,154,189,276,311,341,383],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-liberty-genderpoliticsreligion","tag-children","tag-cultural-illness","tag-families","tag-gun-violence","tag-mental-illness","tag-newton","tag-politics","tag-school-shooting"],"yoast_head":"\n