In light of the recent, senseless tragedy in Connecticut, I’ve been asking myself the same question many people are asking themselves- What can I do? I feel powerless. Vacillating between feeling angry at the country’s gun laws and sad and sorrowful for the families that lost their children. Unending adulation for the 27 year old teacher who gave her life to save her very young students. Wishing and praying for real change. I’ve got some great ideas about gun rules. There can be extensive psychological tests administered to prospective gun buyers. All the guns that have already been bought can still be registered. There can be stipulations about how many guns one person can own. One sounds like a good amount to me. There can be rules about how a gun owner needs to keep his gun under lock and key. Gun laws can be mandated on a federal, rather than state, level. But these are only my ideas and because I’m not a Senator or a Congresswoman, all my ideas will never materialize. So I’m still left with an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness.
Then I realize why I’m writing, beside the fact that I enjoy doing it. I want to make the world a better place through story. By expressing themes like peace and greed and spirituality in my books, I am hoping that people start to deeply question the absurdity of living in a country where adopting a pet is more difficult than buying a gun; where money is more important than human lives; and where we have really just lost our way. I believe that each and every person can also make a difference in making the world a better place: By teaching their children well; by helping a person in need; by smiling; and by seeing, really seeing, the all the great beauty in our world.
