Bang! by Kimberly Sabatini

Bang! Bang! Bang!

More victims of another gun shooting.

I pause.
I cry.
I anger.
I espouse.
I wait...

for the next BANG.

It will come.

History has taught me this truth.

And as every day passes, I hold my breath waiting for the monster.

The one I know is coming.

But while I'm afraid of the next shot, what I've come to fear more, is the monster that lives inside us all.

What snarls at me, even from my own recesses, is our inability to communicate with each other.

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.

Ayn Rand

Neither side of the gun control argument will truly "win" anything until we remember how to communicate effectively with each other. We need to focus on talking and listening with the right people. There are intelligent and good people on both sides who want change. We need to be directing our energy in places where we can convince everyone that we stand together on common ground--that we have dogs in the same fight. 

I think about one of my heroes, Gandhi and I realize I didn't just admire him for changing the world, for me it has always been about HOW he changed it.

Perhaps creating something better isn't possible if it is built on an untrue foundation. Maybe it appears, that if you use the same "successful" tactics as the status quo, then the fight will be fair and a win will be inevitable and everything will be good. But when I search deeply within myself, I don't find that to be my truth. I don't believe that the ends justify the means for very long. There are things that unravel when they aren't well crafted.

I'm the first person to admit I don't have all the answers. The truth is, I don't even have all the questions. But I do know the kind of person I strive to be. I can focus on that as I toss my hat into the ring of people looking for solutions. At the very least, I can do my best to fight the monster of miscommunication. 

BANG!