There's an implicit contract to living in America: we have to tolerate a decent amount of violent crime. In cities there are neighborhoods you know not to venture into. We have to pass through security just to attend concerts and ballgames, because the chance of someone bringing in a weapon is non trivial. The bad guys have easy access to lots of guns, so our police force is armed like a branch of the military.
A latent sense that some shit can go down at anytime when we're out in public is the mental price we pay to live in this great country. And indeed the United States is a wonderful country, full of opportunity and creativity. There's no better place to elevate your station in life, so long as you're willing to put in the work. I am forever grateful to my parents for bringing us over here from China back in 1996.
But even back then, the young me was warned about the violence and guns that permeate American society. Walking around the neighborhood is not the same here in the States as it was back in China. I didn't really think much of it back then. Because I was only a kid.
It wasn't until my travel to Asian countries in recent years that opened my eyes. It's entirely possible to live in place without the latent backdrop of violent crime potential. You can go absolutely anywhere in a city at any time without fear of something bad happening. I would then fly back to America and get depressed, as the subconscious cloud of danger returns.
It doesn't have to be this way, but those in the seats of federal power keep refusing to do anything. Literal babies getting massacred by bullets in Sandy Hook didn't move the needle towards gun control. I don't expect yet another one to either. That's an incredibly sad and defeatist thing to say, but a freedom - right to bear arms - once granted is supremely difficult to take back. And this is a country that loves its freedoms, for better and worse.
If we could just stop being so individualistic for one moment, and think more of our fellow men, women, and children. Be less selfish, and more selfless. I try hard to not be numb to these mass shootings, but there's so many of them. To care deeply about each one just hurts too much. I can only have immense empathy for the grieving parents that soon will have to bury their young children. It’s so fucking sad.
Small town neighborhood.