Liberty and Justice.... for whom?

"Food insufficiency".....Why do these things always happen to me when I am driving? I don't know if it was the low grade fever I was sporting, or just my opinions, too long held in check in regards to the swirling debates focused on the events of the last few days, that caused me to start raging into the emptiness of my vehicle.  The offending reporter on NPR was talking about the BackPack Program in schools, of which I am a great supporter. Over and over again, she kept using the phrase "Food insufficiency" , when what she really meant was hunger. And that.....did me in. The BackPack Program has been set up to combat H.U.N.G.E.R....in children.....in the United States of America - and using antiseptic phraseology does not change the facts....it only makes it seem more removed - more clinical - less visceral. Which brings me around to what was really bothering me....once you wade through the arguments of Gun Freedoms/reforms,  the God's vengeance camp vs. the God is Love camp, and the myriad Mental Health issues, there are, to my way of thinking giant elephants in our collective rooms in regards to the Connecticut massacre that no one is addressing. For those of you who don't know me well - let me introduce myself. I am not a friend of the NRA. I do not question your right to own a rifle to hunt with - as long as you eat what you kill, or use your kill to feed someone else. I do not question your right to own a handgun to protect home and hearth. I do believe that your right to carry concealed weapons infringes on my right to have a sense of  peace and personal security (which for me does NOT include a gun)- my right to know when there is a weapon in my presence. I believe that there is no reason on earth for anyone to own an assault rifle - the true and original weapon of mass destruction. If you are a person who believes that God sent this massacre as a punishment for any of the multiple reasons that I have seen bandied about - I do not know your God - this God that would seek vengeance against little children. I have yet to see any mention of the problem that goes back to the "Food Insufficiency"....that we, as a society, have become afraid of, or too lazy, or too inured , to take a stance....to call a spade a spade (I know - that phrase might be politically offensive, but it is the only one I can think of that really fits) That said, you may want to stop reading now - if you don't, I warned you - because here comes my two cents...... I am of the opinion that we have become a society that is unwilling to call out the bullies, wherever they may be - to enact swift and substantial punitive consequences - to have a zero tolerance policy - to say what we mean, and to mean what we say . We have become a society that is in many ways completely and totally immune to violence - we allow our young children to play video games and watch movies and TV shows that are rife with gun play and gore. Each time they play or view, their young minds (already unable to completely find a clear line between fact and fantasy, because of the limitations of their growing brains) find it a little less scary, a little more exciting, a little more normal - more acceptable...the "lives" of those killed while gaming become nothing more than points on a tote board....chipping away at the much touted "sanctity" of human life....distilling it to nothing more than killing for sport, or worse, glory. I do not believe everyone deserves a trophy - I believe that it not only gives our children a sense of entitlement, it sets them up for disappointment and an inability to cope with the "real world". I believe that we have a health care system that is corrupt and broken and that extends to mental health...especially mental health. I believe that parenting is too often viewed as a hobby, to be put aside when it becomes too messy and time consuming, and not as a sacred responsibility. I believe that we are laughable if we, as a society, have come to believe that we can "Keep God Out" by enacting a little bit of  mortal legislation - yet I also believe - quite strongly- in the separation of Church and State...."Render unto God that which is God's....render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's." I believe that we have become a society that refers to Childhood Hunger as "Food Insufficiency", thereby removing the unpleasant images that the word HUNGER conjures up...making it more P.C.....more palatable....like the "mechanical soft" pablum that Nursing Homes give to their patients that have difficulty swallowing. I believe that we have lost sight of personal responsibility when it comes to how we spend our "free will" - In our zeal to be right, we have lost sight of the true freedoms our country was founded upon,(of which Religious Freedom was front and center, and that included the right to have no religion if that is what one so desired) and the call to work for the greater good.... I believe that there is no one solution to the problems that we face as a people.....but I know that each part of the collective solution has to begin with putting aside our respective agendas, rolling up our sleeves and trying to be a part of the solution, instead of screaming about the ways in which we feel we have been slighted....to really MEAN that Pledge of Allegiance that so many folks are so riled up about....you know.....the one that ends "With Liberty and Justice for ALL".....