Another Perspective-Guns are not the issue..

I am saddened and overwhelmed by what happened in Las Vegas and I want to offer a different perspective and say that guns are not the only issue here !! It's so easy to say we need more laws and more control. But is this the only way to stabilize our country and feel safe? Let me be very clear, I am not a gun toting NRA member advocating the protection of our arms. In fact, I don’t own a gun, never have and can’t imagine ever will. And I live in Montana where all my neighbors own several guns each. That said, guns are not the real problem in our world!!! People are! What happened last night and what’s been happening globally has little to do with gun control and everything to do with the mind being manipulated by fear, victim thinking and delusion. We need to step back from reacting and look at what motivates a person to behave this way. The real concern has to do with what drives the kind of thinking and mentality that allows a person to kill another human being. And what can we do as a “tribe” to change the dynamics. Controlling people, rights and freedoms only breeds more fear. We can't give more and more of our freedom away in the name of safety. We have to change the narrative to looking at ways to create a different kind of society -where guns hang on the mantel or sit in the cabinet as an old relic or antique. Obviously, there’s no easy answer here! I do know that it is time to take a stand and not let fear divide us any longer. Don’t accept everything you see on TV or read in social media. Go deeper, ask questions and reach out to your family and community. What does this bring up in you? How can you become a better person from all the suffering? More importantly, how can you contribute to helping your family, friends and neighbors feel safer, more positive and valued? Better still, create and hold a vision of a society where caring, cooperation and dialogue governs the people not laws and guns. It’s not that pie in the sky to think this way. We shape our reality with how we think. As we collectively hold an different vision, everything becomes possible! Look at how different groups spring up and change policies in Washington. That’s the kind of coming together I am talking about. Seeing the best in each other and working toward a common good for each other. That’s the kind of focus that changes lives, communities and history. Abraham Lincoln was talking about government, but I envision a community/society-of the people, by the people and for the people…for all people!!! I also understand that this issue is multifaceted and needs to be addressed accordingly. As we are still an evolving people, with many of our ideologies overriding our hearts and conscience, laws do need to be in place. But life can’t be so regulated that people lose the ability to make conscious choices that ultimately shape them into better, more mature and responsible human beings; where those choices shape a positive and safe community for young and old alike. Eventually we need to stop looking to policies to govern society. We as human beings need to hold ourselves and each other to higher standards of caring and conduct and not leave that to our legislators and religious leaders. Society as a whole needs to evolve and that can only happen as individuals grow, take personal responsibility and understand how they can contribute to a better society. I send you love and wish you peace!!!!