The Nightmare

I have not had a nightmare in quite some time. Last night I had a nightmare. Or maybe it was early this morning.

In the nightmare, I was watching a movie. No, I wasn’t just watching the scenes, I was in them. Random scenes of gun violence flashed before me. I saw people getting shot. I saw people shooting.

I then saw Robert Kennedy and John F. Kennedy sitting in the Oval Office in the White House. Both of them were shot and killed. Robert was on a couch; John was in a chair. They talked to one other. They were bloody. Their clothes, their skin, bloody. They had no knowledge of nor paid any attention to their present state. They just kept talking to each other.

Again and again and again I saw images of shooting, killing.

I then heard a voice…..

               “You live in a country where a man can shoot another man and not go to prison.”

I then saw a face from a famous, criminal murder case. Case in point.

Again I saw killing. I saw people aiming guns at other people, shooting, killing.

I awoke with a gasp. I sat up in bed, my heart pounding.

Why would I have dreamt that you might ask? It’s simple-because gun violence is everywhere. We in the U.S. are almost becoming complacent. We hear of a shooting on the news, and do not think anything of it. Shootings appear to be commonplace.

In December of 2012, a gunman in the state of Connecticut went into a school and shot 20 children and 6 adults. The country was outraged. The country fell to its knees with grief. The country mourned. The world mourned with us. We swore nothing like that would ever happen again. Yet in the U.S., nothing has been done to stop the killing. Nothing.

This year, in the U.S., there have been 12 mass killings from gun violence. Two more shootings took place in schools in the United States this week. The first of these shootings involved a student with a gun, and a teacher who jumped in front of the gun to spare others from hurt. The teacher died from his injuries. The other shooting involved one teacher and one student; the student shot and killed the teacher. They found the teacher’s body on the grounds of the school.

Last week, in my city, there were three killings from gun violence in one night. The shootings took place within twenty minutes. Three deaths. Within twenty minutes.

I am in favor of people owning guns for means of self-protection and for hunting, to provide food for their family. I am not in favor of people having access to military weapons who are not in the military. You can hunt for food and protect your family without an automatic rifle.

We need to have serious discussions in this country, about background checks, mental health, and many other issues. This phenomenon was not created overnight; it will not be solved overnight.

Haven’t enough people died from the violence? What will it take? Something must be done. Enough is enough.

I pray that we find a solution to this problem. I pray that there will be no further nightmares.