December Snow

Sitting here looking out on the street that is lightly covered with the white stuff. Not a lot but enough to make me stay home.  I fixed a hot breakfast (poached eggs on blueberry toast) and then scooted in here to surf the net a little bit.  Facebook had a few pictures/cartoons from various cousins of mine. They made me smile so I decided I'd repost on my blog.

I wanted to post the video of Hallelujah sung by 'The Voice' but they've blocked embedding so if you get a chance, go you Youtube and search for Hallelujah,The Voice. Very pretty.

Been watching the various previews of upcoming movies and there are a few I'd really liked to see.
Billy Crystal and Bette Midler in 'Parental Guidance' looks especially funny.  Certain comedians can make me laugh or at least smile by saying anything at all. Sometimes it's just watching their face. Three of those are Billy, Steve Martin, and Jerry Seinfeld.

Most of the movies I'll just wait to see on video but one that interests me is 'Hobbit'. I think that would be a fun movie to see in the theatre.

Watching the newscasts continues to be heart wrenching.  It's such a shame that we wait until a tragedy occurs before we get down to the common sense basics of restricting automatic gun sales.  I'm always amazed when Port Angeles is having a gun and knife show at the Masonic Hall over on Lincoln Street downtown.  There are cars and trucks parked up and down the streets.  The first time I saw this traffic, I thought: "ohhhh... must be a good garage sale going on; I'd better stop."  When I realized it was guns and knives, I thought "Good Lord! Why the popularity?!"  Yes, I'm naive sometimes.

I've always thought, though, that the real problem  in our society was the lack of mental health care.  Our country is sadly ineffective in this area and it's contributing to everyone's safety.  We've all seen those individuals out of their heads on drugs or  talking to themselves or scounging in garbage cans or even getting their own reality shows.  Drugs have infected our society in more ways than one. Way too often, disruptive kids are immediately put on drugs if they make problems at school.  Sedating is necessary in some cases, but not all.  Then again, teachers didn't become teachers to spend their day having to focus on those needing special attention.  This only takes away education for others.
It's a huge problem and it's made worse by adults making bad choices by using drugs and then having kids and not parenting the way they should.  There's no pat answer and every situation is a little different.

We've already seen our country change as we attempt over and over again to keep our citizens safe.
You have to jump through hoops at airports now; hospitals have locked doors; courthouses have guards; schools have lockdown procedures; casinos require  backpack searches, doctors and nurses and drug stores make you show ID and repeat your birthdate half a dozen times, and video cameras watch us enter buildings and drive on streets.

This isn't the first incident of children being killed at school and sadly, it's probably not going to be the last.  It's a violent world and only seems to be getting worse. When I think of those 20 kids slaughtered, I can't help but wonder  -- what if that was my grandchild?  That thought makes me feel sorrow for all those parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and neighbors who are being forced to bury their victims.  We'd best get this figured out and fix it!