Waking the Dead, a look at the cost of violence in the USA.

So, it's Monday morning, scrolling through the FB feed like normal.  Then I hit the shooting reports for Chicago this past weekend. 7 dead, forty-some wounded.

   

Then I began to wonder about the the families, loved ones and friends whose lives are changed forever in an instant. How could they cope with such devastating loss.  Where does the pain, anger and grief go?

I consider myself extremely fortunate, my son was wounded by gun-fire 11 years ago. 
No, he is not a thug, drug dealer or person of interest in a crime.  He was at the wrong place at the wrong time.   But the bullets didn't care about that.

There was a minute when we thought he would not make it, but he did and we are glad beyond words and grateful beyond measure.

This made me realize that the shock, dismay and helplessness I felt was being experienced all over the USA, every day.  Multiply it by the rest of the world and families all over the world are in pain.

There are numerous and sundry reasons for the climbing gun play in America, we will not discuss them here.  But we will talk about the toll, emotional and physical of gun violence.

1.  Financial cost..the average (?) funeral in the US is $7,000.00 to $10,000.00.  Who has that kind of money laying around?  But the grieving scrape it together, mortgaging homes and selling heirlooms to provide a proper send off to their loved ones.  

The alternative is cremation, which bothers a lot of folks, but not me.  Average cremation costs $3,000.00 at best.  

The funerary industry posted record profits last year, undertaking is big business. 20 billion dollars worth of profit and climbing.

This death business is very lucrative, and do not forget the prison for profit aspect of gun violence, cause sometimes the cops actually catch someone, put them in jail and I have to feed them for 5-25 years.

2. Emotional costs are incalculable.  The sheer painful impact of the fact that someone you loved was gunned down in cold blood does not bear mentioning.  And this has a ripple effect.  There are literally millions of  human beings walking around with PTSD.  That is correct, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  We are living in a war zone, fighting for our lives, our freedoms, water to drink and good food to eat. Is there any wonder that folks are snapping like twigs.

Each time you venture outside, there is a chance, ever so slight that you might not make it back.  And this is no way to live, ask any combat soldier.

Children cannot play outside, folks can't sit in the park, lovers cannot stroll in the night air.  This is no way for people to exist.

3.  Our quality of life is directly effected by the violent crimes being committed every day.  The Police are overwhelmed, undermanned, over-medicated and some are just plain nutz.  The constant friction between the community and its police forces makes reporting a crime almost as dangerous as committing one.

We have watched cops kill citizens so much and with so much impunity that it is becoming routine.  And I am sorely disappointed in myself, because I should be doing something, anything to help stop the blood-red tide staining the streets and threatening to flood us.

And it goes without saying that living in an atmosphere so violently charged is not good for your health.  Knowing that you might be living next to a murderer is wearing on the nerves.

But I do not know what to do or where to start.  So I will continue be vigilant and determined to help stop the violence using my tools, my voice and my vote.