Arizona

Words. What are they worth? Unlike sticks and stones they can’t break any bones, but they sure are used often enough to inflict damage. The damage done by a bullet is bad enough but words add insult to injury. The happenings in Arizona reminded me of a mini-9-11. The nation could come together as a witness to an abhorrent tragedy. Like the Kennedy assassination we want to make it more than it was- a lone gunman with a twisted agenda. Our nation felt a need to mourn for Arizona and yet for all the words pleading for an end to political rancor, many of those doing the pleading have left a trail of regrettable words in their wake.

In my heart I believe that Pres. Kennedy’s death had to be the result of a conspiracy but a lack of hard evidence tells me otherwise. No one but a Communist leaning nutcase has been linked to the assassination, yet this does not stop the believers from touting conjecture as fact. In like manner, Pres. George W. Bush has been accused of orchestrating 9-11. Now either he is a mad genius who could plan such an event in nine short months he had been in office and also perfectly cover his tracks or the whole case lacks credibility. Still this does not stop those who choose to believe the lunacy of such scenarios. Ultimately, there is nothing close to a legal case to present only irresponsible “loose change” that is not deterred by reality.

Now we come to Arizona. Instead of using the precaution they preached, the same people were making charges that Sarah, the Tea Party, and Talk Radio were to blame for the shooting. Gun control advocates, free speech suppressors, and liberals of a certain ilk were painting a picture that was not realistic. Never mind the fact that the gunman was not influenced at all by the people accused of contributing; that simply didn’t and doesn’t matter.

Free speech does not recognize a time to pause simply because one party or the other is in power. It only asks that a place be set at the table for all who would partake. It will be interesting to see just how long those who clamor for civil discourse remain true to their words. For you see, words have power, but have meaning mainly in the sense when they are accompanied by actions. Time will be the greatest enemy of the charlatans who would preach verbal temperance while all the time patronizing the “speakeasys”. Conservative talk shows, free speech, and Palin’s website had nothing to do with what happened in Arizona. This was just a case of a sick man who went too far before he was stopped. Political metaphors and discourse have no meaning to a man who is lost in his own sense of warped reality. Let us strive to avoid following a similar path to our own form of insanity.