JUST SOME THOUGHTS ON CHILDREN, BOOKS AND GUNS

There is an innocence…a purity our children possess…which I suspect we, the parents, do our best to nurture and protect We strive to preserve their innocence…anyway we can…anyhow for as long as the Gods we believe in…or destiny will allow. It looks like a simple mission…but it’s never as easy as it seems as we try with all the love in our heart to give birth then wings unto their dreams. Books are written to help a child dream…to think…to learn…to light a spark…to plant a seed and, as parents, when they’re young we decide which books they can and cannot read. It is a parent’s right…a duty…I wholeheartedly concede it! But only I have the right to tell my children what they can and cannot read… and when they’re old enough to read it! When my children and I read about and discuss lives and opinions different from my own It teaches us things we may not have thought about…we learn facts we did not know. We begin to understand this beautifully diverse world we live in…and each other… for this is how we grow. A gun when used for target practice can be fun, entertaining and thrilling. But a gun’s main purpose, unlike a book, is as a weapon…an instrument for killing. A gun cannot harm a child…with this truth everyone can agree when the owner of that gun is safe and rational and uses that gun responsibility. To all you lawful gun owners out there…I DON’T WANT YOU TO LOSE YOUR GUNS! But when you think about it…don’t you reckon’ No one needs a gun….that can kill 10 children…in one second. And so I wonder…since the moment these mass shootings have begun why have we been so quick to ban a multitude of books…but hesitant to ban ONE gun? Yes, this duty…this mission we have as parents is never as easy as it seems… but shouldn’t we be doing more to nurture, protect and enhance our children’s dreams? Instead of standing by…allowing them to die before they’re old enough to read those books you banned… before their dreams…ever had a chance to fly.