Resurrecting Chicago

Another horror at another school perpetrated by a student who friends say was a happy, non-violent young man.  The nation reels as it hears the story of this disturbed boy who walks into a lunch gathering in the school cafeteria, pulls out a .40 caliber handgun and shoots four fellow students. The shooter commits suicide. One victim dies at the scene, another dies a few days later. Two others are still hospitalized.

Our country is stunned by this destruction of young life. It has happened again.  And, it will happen again and again until we ban handguns. I have nothing against hunting rifles and shotguns. They are for hunting and are hard to conceal. Handguns are for shooting humans.

Yeah, I know.  The Bill of Rights says it’s our right as Americans to be armed.  The NRA insists everyone should be armed, including children. Just teach everyone proper gun etiquette and we’ll all get along. Guns bring respect to the gun-holder.  O yes, the NRA thinks teachers should be armed, too.  Just what we need in a crowed cafeteria, nervous and shocked teachers whipping out their guns and shooting.

So, we will mourn the tragedy of another school shooting. We will do nothing about enacting laws to prevent this type of violence from happening again.  We won’t enforce the laws we do have, for that matter. What is wrong with us?

Along with the Bill of Rights, the founders of our democracy should have listed a Bill of Responsibilities.  One of those responsibilities should have been something like:  In defense of our country, each citizen will not refuse to bear arms in a militia.  However, except for self-defense, no one may exhibit arms, especially handguns for the purpose of intimidation and self-promotion.

The World Series starts next Tuesday and I would be hard-pressed to name one player from either team. I think it’s San Francisco versus Kansas City –but don’t hold me to those teams. I just don’t have interest in the series or even baseball these days.

I was a baseball fanatic for years.  I can still recall baseball stats I learned as a child: Ty Cobb, .367 life-time batting average; Babe Ruth, 714 home runs, Ted Williams, .406 batting average (The last player to hit .400.  It happened, I think, in 1941.)

Now, players are traded so often that it’s hard to feel a home-town kind of identity for any of them.  Yet, I remember Cobb played for Detroit; Ruth, for the Yankees for most of his career; Williams stayed in Boston.

The games I watch today are played by millionaires who couldn’t care less about the fans.  The game is slick and without the passion that Casey Stengel used to exhibit when he would come out of the dugout to argue…and argue, a third strike.  You are not allowed to dispute a called strike any more.

Uniforms make fashion statements these days.  Back in the day when baseball was the pastime and passion of the nation, players wore serviceable work clothes to the stadium and they got dirty during the game.

Players seem preoccupied with their stats rather than their teams.  Baseball seems broken to me and I don’t know what it would take to fix it.

I miss baseball but I don’t think it will ever come back.  Of course, I do believe in the power of prayer.