two data points do not a conclusion make, and yet
Content warning: domestic terrorism, violence, guns.
This is the second time this year that an organization I am actively involved with has received a credible threat.
Both threats were made by men with guns and extremely poor responses to disappointment. Both threats resulted in various degrees of lockdown and intensely increased security; a couple of hours in the first instance, four days (so far) in the second.
Both men were subsequently arrested. I believe the first has been remanded to treatment elsewhere; the matter of the second remains undecided (hence the continuing lockdown).
I personally was and am in no danger other than the possibility of experiencing collateral damage due to pure proximity to those individuals who were the direct targets of said threats, and yet (obviously, or I would not be making this post) it is still very much on my mind.
Why?
Because I am tired, I am upset, and I am angry. We live in a society and a world where violence, especially gun violence, is a common reaction to something going wrong in someone's life. It doesn't have to be this way, it should not be this way, and yet it still is this way. Why? Why can't we figure out how to, if not solve this problem, at least better handle it?
And at the same time, I am so very, very aware that as uncomfortable and awful as these events have been, it's nowhere near the level of threat that so many exist under in their daily lives. And that, to me, is true horror.
It shouldn't have to be that way, either.
Come on, world. We can do better than this.
This entry was originally posted at http://silveraspen.dreamwidth.org/303123.html and mirrored to LJ. Please comment where you wish! (There are
comments currently posted at Dreamwidth.)
This is the second time this year that an organization I am actively involved with has received a credible threat.
Both threats were made by men with guns and extremely poor responses to disappointment. Both threats resulted in various degrees of lockdown and intensely increased security; a couple of hours in the first instance, four days (so far) in the second.
Both men were subsequently arrested. I believe the first has been remanded to treatment elsewhere; the matter of the second remains undecided (hence the continuing lockdown).
I personally was and am in no danger other than the possibility of experiencing collateral damage due to pure proximity to those individuals who were the direct targets of said threats, and yet (obviously, or I would not be making this post) it is still very much on my mind.
Why?
Because I am tired, I am upset, and I am angry. We live in a society and a world where violence, especially gun violence, is a common reaction to something going wrong in someone's life. It doesn't have to be this way, it should not be this way, and yet it still is this way. Why? Why can't we figure out how to, if not solve this problem, at least better handle it?
And at the same time, I am so very, very aware that as uncomfortable and awful as these events have been, it's nowhere near the level of threat that so many exist under in their daily lives. And that, to me, is true horror.
It shouldn't have to be that way, either.
Come on, world. We can do better than this.
This entry was originally posted at http://silveraspen.dreamwidth.org/303123.html and mirrored to LJ. Please comment where you wish! (There are
comments currently posted at Dreamwidth.)