Some Holiday Punch

1. Why an intelligent and educated mother of a mentally troubled child would fill her house with semi-automatic weapons is as mind-boggling to me as the horrid murders her young son committed.

2. The notion of expecting school principals to fire a gun at intruders armed with assault weapons is as absurd as suggesting that God’s absence in schools is the reason for the Sandy Hook school tragedy.

3. So much of mental illness will be treatable once more money is spent on psychobiological and neuroscience genome research. We still know and understand so little about the underlying chemistry of depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and myriad other afflictions with which our fellow human beings so desperately struggle.

4. Makes you wonder what the trillion dollars we spent in Iraq and Afghanistan might have produced had it been directed toward medical research. Cancer? Mental illness? Alzheimer’s? Gone?

5. Perhaps it’s because I grew up hearing and singing Christmas carols and holiday musical liturgies, but I never tire of the sound of holiday songs. They conjure up rich memories and emotions unlike anything other than perhaps the sacristy of beautiful, old church. The one exception being the song, “Santa Baby.”

6. I attended a play at Cretin Derham Hall the Friday of the Sandy Hook massacre. Students were performing Charlotte’s Web, and it was wonderful, as all of their performances are. It occurred to me that theater troupes in schools offer a unique benefit to children, allowing sensitive and fragile young kids a chance to express themselves in a safe and accepting environment. Had Adam Lanza been in theater, might he have found connection and adequate outlet for his anguish?

7. ’Tis the season! If there were ever a time to add another 5 or 10 percent to a tip or hand a less fortunate human being a few bucks, this is it. If you’re really feeling the spirit, buy some videos or games and deliver them to the children’s ward at your local hospital—or better yet, buy a flatscreen TV for one of the fantastic children’s hospitals in town: Amplatz, Gillette, or Minneapolis Children’s. I promise you will feel all warm and gooey, and your kids or grandkids will learn a valuable lesson if you take them along.

8. Kids are questioning the reality of Santa at increasingly younger ages. I wish we did a better job of helping them cross the bridge from the dream of an old man living at the North Pole to a generous spirit that lives in each of us expressing love and goodwill toward one another. If we’re ever going to get that bridge built, we’d better hurry—we’ll have no defense once the North Pole melts away to nothing!

9. You know what I like about you? Your willingness to spend your precious time with me each week. I hope you occasionally find some sympatico, validation, stimulation, or useful information. Happy holidays to all and here’s to a better 2013!

Comments

[Ron in Alexandria]

Oops...I got #2 backwards - it would seem more absurd to confront someone without any firearm than with one.

[Ron in Alexandria]

1. Does seem odd - perhaps we're missing some key facts.
2. It seem more absurd to have the option of confronting with a gun than without one.
3. It's true we still know and understand so little - and yet, more money isn't always the silver bullet we'd hope it to be.
4. There are many things we've p-ssed a trillon dollars on with little to show for it other than looming debt. I guess the easiest reality to recognize is that oversized government and out of control spending certainly robs us of options.
5. So true.
6. The poster child for idle speculation.
7. Terrific suggestions and examples.
8. Other than the concerns about melting - I agree.
9. I do, thanks. Back at you!

[P.P.]

You know what I like about the holidays? Reading what you write.

[JR]

Can't wait to get to your column each week. One of the better things about Thursdays.

[Ray Marlowe]

Regarding #2 above. You miss the point entirely. It's unlikely that a principal would need to fire a weapon. Just the fact that he or she might have one is enough to dissuade most losers and cowards from even going to the faux gun-free zone that most schools are.