Happy Holidays from Rockland

It's been a roller-coaster 10 days or so, with the nadir being the murder of 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut by someone not much more than a child himself, at least chronologically.  Well,  enough more than a child to be armed with 3 guns including an automatic rifle.  Enough of a "man" to kill his mother - who bought the gun that murdered her - and then deliberately head to the school where she had worked - and where he himself, I believe, had once been a student - to murder 6 and 7 year olds.  Babies!   I'm listening to public radio this morning - Christmas Eve - and they are reporting on the NRA's proposal that the government require every school to have an armed police officer.  Only in this country - or possibly China or Soviet Russia - could this be seen as a "good" idea by any one other than an extreme fringe element.

The nadir for me is not only the deaths of the 26 people - 27 including the shooter's mother? - but the response.  Of course this was a terrible event.  Of course the deaths of these children and their teachers and other care-givers are tragic.  Like just about everyone I know, I cried when I heard the news, and cried again and again as I learned about the victims.  But what do we expect? We have given the government of this country to big business and Big Guns are very big business and the NRA is their lie-spewing mouthpiece.  The NRA spends millions and millions of dollars to make sure that the politicians they back in Washington tow their line. I heard a story about one Republican candidate that dared to oppose some NRA-proposed law and the NRA funded and ran a different Republican candidate to get rid of her.  The Supreme Court keeps knocking down laws aimed at gun control in the name of "freedom."  Freedom - tell it to a six year old.   I have a six year old grandson.  And this is true in every realm of society, not just guns and gun violence.  And throughout the world, not just in this country.  We are reaping what we sowed over decades.  This, too, makes me cry. But will crying get me off my butt to find and join others to do something about it all?  What will do that, for me and for others?  What will it take?

But this is the season of hope and light.  Here's my Hanukkah menorah on the last night of Hanukkah, when all candles were lit, with David's crow puppet enjoying the light:

And here is Rockland's own special Christmas tree, built of something like 150 lobster traps (which will be raffled off to local lobster fisherman after the holiday):

We may get a dusting of snow tomorrow.  It won't be enough to cover all the muck and mire left from the warmer rainy days we've just passed through.  But just for a moment, the world may seem bright, hopeful and at peace.

May there be peace on earth for all.  The sooner the better.  And may I find a way to do more than just wish and pray for it.  So may we all.