A broken world by Sue Robin

A broken world
by Sue Robin, Los Angeles, California

Our Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms. Written in the day when that meant a musket. One shot, reload before a second could be fired.  Today, the military style rifles. which are sold as easily as toilet paper, come equipped to shoot a minimum of 30 bullets without reloading. Somehow, I do not think it was what our Founding Fathers were thinking. We are the only first world country that allows such overwhelmingly unrestricted sales of guns and ammo. We are, also, the only first world country with a death toll that drags our hearts through the wringer and leaves the country in mourning again and again.

How many times must we watch the horrors of another mass shooting? Each death diminishes us, floods us with tears and anguish. Though a Gallup poll shows 52% of Americans believe that, at the very least, we should have background checks, waiting periods, no assault rifles, age restrictions and restrictions for felons and the mentally ill, our politicians refuse to enact nationwide laws that would make it just a bit more difficult to obtain a weapon. Perhaps, if they were not beholden to the money from the NRA, something might change. Without nationwide laws, one could live in California with stricter laws and drive across the border to Arizona and bring back a gun. Gun shows, too, are another loophole.

I am not optimistic that even if the federal government passes appropriate restrictions that things will change. There are already more guns than people in the United States. Heaven, help us!

This poem was written in 2012 after the death of 27 people, 20 of them children under seven years of age. Nothing has changed except the depth of our despair.

A Broken World

Funerals for little sweet-faced children
What madness is this?
The order of life is out of life is out of sync
There is pain when Mother Nature wreaks havoc
When one of our own turns on us
It is a despair that would flood the oceans
Is that depth of sadness what accompanies the murderer every day of his life?
The nation wonders the cause:
Guns? Video Games? The daily violence in the news?
Numbed now to life itself?
Parents who did not see or care, or doctors who could not heal?
A broken world to match our broken hearts.

12/18/2012