Another mass shooting

There was a Time when you could die for any reason. Thirty was old age and if you lived til forty you were blessed. There were plagues that wiped out villages. Famines that lasted years and years. Cruel Landowners busted up heads just for. Childbirth was iffy and children born didn't have much to look forward to. Most people went to Church although they didn't read and understand much. What they did know was death. Death was all around them. Images of skulls and the scales of judgment on their buildings reminded them to keep death in their plans. Mento Mori they were called: Be Mindful Today Might Be The Day You Die. Christian teachers like Thomas A'Kempis taught people to order every day and thought as if it might be their last day. Tragedies were more or less expected. Suffering was part of life. Live like it.

Today we don't live with much of an awareness of death until it comes in a mass shooting. Then we are reminded of death, unpredictable, irrational, deadly. We watch scenes of crying and candle lighting. Police search for a motive to explain the inexplicable. We feel vulnerable in public places for awhile. We upgrade security systems. We call for more gun controls. The NRA lobbies for no change. Nothing happens. Until the next one and then the cycle repeats.

In the background are the shouted threats of nuclear missile exchanges. Guam is a target, Alaska and some day New York City. Trump thunders and South Korea and Japan shake. A Government report  -in a government that can't say climate change - says that climate change is placing our planet in critical danger.  Ecological catastrophes are forecast. Future wastelands are envisioned.

How is it that we have so little fear of death? It seems like it ought to change our plans and re-order our priorities, at least. We might want to give a thought to how we will spend the day. What we will say to people, especially our loved ones. The good we can do we can do. Acts of mercy and love are not to be put off and joy is not to be denied.