by T. Jacira Paolino
The Frog in Hot Water
Americans are like the proverbial frog in hot water. If you put him in hot water he’ll jump right back out. But if you put him in cool water and slowly heat it, he’ll boil to death.
Violence is not unique to the USA, but the sheer daily volume of it that surrounds us in our daily lives is found nowhere else on earth, and it has been getting worse and worse over the last few decades. Americans have become immune to it. It’s on the daily news programs, in the papers, online. It doesn’t even shock us anymore.
How many children died by drive-by shootings last night? How many school massacres have there been so far this year?
Since moving to Portugal in March, I’ve had a small reprieve. I watch the local daily news in Portuguese, and this being the 3rd safest country on the planet means we don’t have gangs, we don’t have guns in our neighborhood, and no irate driver is going to pull out a handgun and shoot you for beeping at them.
It’s only when I turn on CNN, or pull up the website to my local back-in-the-USA news channel that it hits me. The violence has risen to a point where I really don’t want to live there anymore. I got out. Most of my readers are still in the USA. You are the slowly boiling frogs. Please don’t take offense at that. Take action.
I’m not anti 2nd Amendment, but who really needs semi-automatic weapons to protect their home?
When is the water going to be hot enough for you to jump? Get involved in the fight for sensible gun control. Universal background checks isn’t asking much. People with criminal records being denied the right to bear arms is a good idea.
Get active and make a difference, before it’s your child’s school that has a massacre.
