The Rebirth Of A Nation
In 2012 I started a group called Gun Owners For Responsible Gun Control. After a few years, it got so big and my competing interests, like heart surgery and recovery, grew so much that I finally had to hand off leadership of the group to Bill Ware, another very committed gentleman who has grown and nurtured the effort beyond my original vision.
I recently popped in their Facebook group page and was pleased to see that the joint’s still jumping. After reading several posts, I felt compelled to make a post of my own. I thought I might share it here with my friends on Medium that might like a bit of exhortation in these exhausting days.
Tom Brokaw branded our parents The Greatest Generation for their superhuman resilience, ingenuity and fighting spirit in the face of Fascism. Although it was very close, they saved the world, quite literally.
My generation’s turn came when we rose to end senseless wars, the Military Industrial Complex and its grip on America and the worst of civil rights iniquities. Unlike our parents, who were presented with bright lines at the end of their struggle, clear delineations showing they had succeeded and brought their endeavors to a full stop, the Boomers never quite got their movements over the Finished Line. We stopped Vietnam after 56,000 of our countrymen and women perished for questionable reasons.
We disrupted much of the Military Industrial complex, although it has quietly regrouped and is more massive and entrenched than ever. We got our own corrupt President deposed. We stood with black folks to get them on the bus and in the front seats. But all in all, we were not strong enough to push on through to the other side. Boomers were not up for the decades long struggle it would require to truly affect those changes. We got older, had families which required jobs and careers, debt and enslavement to the Banking and Commercial Complex. We became part of the machine, the Establishment.
Now, our kids have taken the torch. Their challenges are greater than any before. Not just Nazis and a brutal Imperial Japan or corrupt American institutions and their dependence on war for profits. The kids now have to solve for the actual end of the world as we know it.
They simultaneously face equivalents to the 1918 Flu Pandemic, the global 1929 Depression and the entire civil rights clash all at once. Damn.
Viewing things through the narrow lens of people trying to end our bloodlust for guns, the view needs to be widened.
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Responsible Gun Control is an integral piece of the overall effort to re-birth America along with mitigating economic and opportunity inequality, the cruelty of imbred racism, a new economy and a new medical premise.
Every American should have reasonable access to baseline medical, mental, chiropractic and dental health care. Later perhaps we can talk about juried but unlimited health care, regardless whether live in the burbs, hood or boonies. Bring back our shuttered rural and inner-city hospitals repurposed as super clinics, level Four trauma canters or higher) able to deal with anything short of major surgery or catastrophic injuries, until they can be transported to a level one facility.
Every adult 18 or over should be able to get job training in trades or business, at no cost once and a low fee for future training courses. Legislaton should be passed to eliminate hiring discriomination based on race, gender or physical appearance although some jobs may be waivered (a TV presenter job for a program centered on black issues, or a therapist for women’s issues, or a job as male model, for instances).
We have to rebalance our economy away from smokestack and brick and mortar and more toward e-comm and entrepreneurials. Stop calling them gigs and start thinking of them as The New Economy. This will serve to bring about a migration of wealth from the 1% to Everyman and Everywoman.
Major and permanent investments need to be made by governments around thew world in advanced medicine to predict and mitigate pandemic diseases. Never again should we be trapped in a defensive or response mode. Let’s get after them, seek out threats and deal with them before they wipe out a hundred thousand of our friends and neighbors.
Immediate actions must be taken ti mitigate climate change. If we can rock the world of racism and police brutality, we can shut down major polluters, halt production of most ICE vehicles, petroleum fuels and other polluting elements. All that money and effort, jobs and ingenuity can immediately be switched to green technologies and jobs, just like the automakers and vacuum cleaner makers switched to making (better, simpler, cheaper) medical ventilators.
We, our kids’ generation, CAN do all these things. If you believe that Responsible Gun Control is needed and feasible, you must also believe these other things are important and entirely doable. If you cannot , or don’t have the oomph or vision to get behind these efforts, at least be an Ally. Don’t obstruct other people’s well-intentioned efforts to improve the world. And speak up. Offer encouragement and support wherever you can.
One person CAN make a difference and usually that’s what happens in these seismic events. One person, one event, one realization or epiphany. From an acorn, the great Oak tree.
So, Imagine a world in which America is no longer awash in guns and it’s fully expected, almost monotonous, replays of gun violence. A place where anyone can gain purpose, pride in self and their contribution. Where non-white folks don’t have to fear whites or cops or racist assholes. Where no one needs to sleep under any bridge or go hungry or without medical care. Where any one who struggles with depression, PTSD or schizophrenia has hope and a plan to rise above. Where diabetes and heart disease become managed conditions and not death sentences.
Imagine, Support and Engage however you can. And we all can.