Times Like These

My friends. I'm emerging from behind my curtain of a break once again to talk about these times we live in. As you know I've been trying hard to shut out the noise of the world, but sometimes things come along that is so loud, you have to pay attention. The recent events in Orlando have me greatly saddened, as I am sure all of you are as well. I'd love to come on here and talk about recent events in my personal life, comics, movies... but to be honest, my heart isn't in it today. It seems trivial when there is so much else going on. Sometimes, a distraction isn't as important as actually facing the truth and taking it on.

I'm not going to even try to write about how senseless and cowardly what happened was. Nor talk about the back and forth reactions an event like this happens. Others are doing a better job than I:

What I would like to say is that I'm saddened to the fact that this happens every day. Out of nowhere. I'm scared to know this could happen at my kid's schools, going to the movies, going out to the nightclub.

I know, if we don't, the terrorists win, right?

How about WE win? How about TEAM PEOPLE winning for a change? We're monkeys with rocks in our hands. We're babies with a beautiful shiny button that launches the nukes. We can't handle these things. They are serpents in a garden of Eden. We're capable of so much better actions, if we allow ourselves to be that way. We can "beat our swords into plowshears and our spears into pruning sheers." We have the potential to live in peace.

But we won't. I've read articles that gun sales have spiked since this weekend. The fear continues and grows.

I hear a lot of talk during this political season about how we can make things "great" again. I read this and this perfectly sums up my feelings about us being "great":

So we can either accept that we are fundamentally flawed and will never change until we destroy each other. Or we can change, evolve and grow.

This change I seek for the overall book of humanity... I fear it will never come. As Bill Hicks said, we're a "virus with shoes." It's just us and what we got and want. We're all children wanting the bigger piece of candy or toy. We'd fuck over our own brother or sister to get it. We hate. We hate. We don't love.

I try not to despair about who we are and what we will never achieve. Because we have that shining sun in our face called "HOPE." I hope that we can change as once race. One species. One successful virus. Because I'm tired of singing this same old song.

But that's this week. Next week the paperboy will bring more lunatics to our attention. And we will do nothing to change it or ourselves. It would do us good to all sit back and think about what we bring and contribute to the big book of humanity. Because right now, this choose yer own adventure book has a fucking shitty ending.

Thanks for listening. Back to your lives. And I hope you fill your life with love... and hope.

--T