I find it ironic, now that death has overtaken him, that everyone is gushing about him at his funeral. Laurels are being heaped upon him as if he were some kind of saint. They’re all saying that he seemed to possess and share with those around him a feeling of eternal bliss, almost as if he were some kind of biblical character.
But what none of the others realizes is that the man was totally berserk.
Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (death), Word of the Day Challenge (gush), Your Daily Word prompt (laurels), Ragtag Daily Prompt (bliss), MMA Storytime (biblical), and Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (berserk).
Yesterday, in my Who Won the Week post, I wrote about gun violence in America. Mass shoutings and gun violence are controversial topics in this country, so my post generated a lot of comments.
A few comments caught my attention. One commenter seemed to take issue with focusing on the “tools” of gun violence — the guns. She wrote, “My concern is on the dwelling on the tool, known as a gun, as opposed to deeply examining the people and conditions underlying the problem.”
She has a point, but without the so easily accessible “tool,” would those people and underlying conditions be able to produce so many mass shootings in this country?
I responded to her comment, pointing out that “the U.S. has 4% of the world’s population and 42% of its firearms. There are mass shooting nearly every week in this country.” I added, “In May 2019, 50 New Zealanders were killed in a mass shooting. Six days later the country banned all automatic and semiautomatic firearms sales and there have been no more mass shootings since then. Actions speak louder than words. Way louder than thoughts and prayers. It’s time to take action in this country.”
She then replied, “Guns won’t go away. There are too many and they serve a great importance. So, examining other correlations is critical. There are many! New Zealand doesn’t have a 2nd Amendment…certainly an option as a place to go for those who are afraid of our society.”
Actually, with the way things are, I’m not afraid of our society as much as I’m afraid for our society. Anyway, her comment got me thinking about the beloved Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
I do have perspectives regarding the Second Amendment. In fact, I have strong opinions about whether or not it actually applies to the ownership and use of concealed weapons and assault-style rifles.
Let’s review the wording of the Second Amendment: A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
So what does it really mean? The opening phrase refers to “a well regulated militia.” What is a militia? According to dictionary.com, a militia is “a body of citizen soldiers as distinguished from professional soldiers.”
Merriam-webster.com defines it as “a part of the organized armed forces of a country liable to call only in emergency” or “a body of citizens organized for military service.” Using these definitions of “militia,” most Americans are not members of one.
Now what about well regulated? The free dictionary.com defines well regulated as “controlled or supervised to conform to rules, regulations, tradition, etc.” I suggest that, when it comes to gun ownership, including concealed weapons, open carry, and semiautomatic assault rifles, the notion of “well regulated” is not even close.
Okay, let’s say, for the sake of discussion, that the framers of the Constitution really did intend for all citizens — well, at least white male citizens — to be armed, should they so choose, regardless of whether they were members of a “well regulated militia.”
But let’s also put this in context of the late 18th Century, when the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were written. This was a time when “standing armies” (e.g., the British Redcoats) were seen as a potential threat to freedom and liberty, and when calling out of the militia required individual soldiers to supply their own weapons.
Plus, the “arms” of that era were single-fire muskets, which, by the way, are impossible to carry around concealed, and flint-lock pistols. According to eHow.com, the steps involved in loading and firing a musket are:
Standing up, set the hammer to “half cock” for safety reasons. You’ll be looking down the barrel quite a bit, and you don’t want the hammer on full cock, which if kicked or dropped, might cause the musket to fire.
Grab a charge out of the box or from your ammo pouch. Tear off the top of the charge with your teeth and keep the ball that was on the top in your mouth. Pour the powder down the barrel. Put the ball of lead into the barrel and put the wadding from the package on top.
Take the ramrod and tamp the powder, the ball, and the wadding into the barrel. The wadding is there to make sure that the ball and gunpowder stay put.
Add some gunpowder to the flash pan below the trigger and fully cock the musket.
Aim for the biggest mass you can on the battlefield because this weapon is not very accurate. Once you’ve set your sights on your target, press the trigger and the hammer will come down. This strikes flint against the pan, causing the gunpowder behind the ball to ignite and the weapon to fire.
At best, a highly trained soldier might have been able to pump out two to four musket shots a minute. Now let’s contrast that with an AR-15, today’s semiautomatic weapon of choice. Using 30 round magazines, it can easily fire off 30 to 45 rounds a minute.
Now think about our Founding Fathers back then, sitting around listening to tunes on their iPhones , texting each other, watching the Patriots game on their 65 inch, flat-panel Ultra High Def TV, or checking what their friends were up to on Facebook or Twitter. Can you seriously believe they had military-grade, semiautomatic assault rifles in mind when they drafted the Second Amendment?
And do gun rights activists and the NRA genuinely feel that it’s necessary for everyday citizens to be able to arm themselves with these assault weapons that are intended to inflict the maximum fatality potential in order to defend their homes or to hunt defenseless wild game?
I’m sorry, folks, but any reasonably thinking human being, even those who support the right of citizens to keep and bear arms, can’t possibly justify the availability and use of such assault weapons by other than members of the military — the professional military.
We need to stop the insanity. Enough is enough. It’s time for Congress to put public health above special interests and politics.
Today is Memorial Day in the U.S. And that means, Just like yesterday, Which was Sunday, There will be no mail delivery. So, for two days in a row No bills will be in my mailbox. Yay!
For this week’s Blogging Insights prompt, Dr. Tanya is interested to know…
Do real life events and real people inspire your blog posts, and how?
Yes. I often write posts expressing my thoughts, perspectives, observations, and opinions about what is going on in the world around us. And when I write such posts, they are, of course, based upon and inspired by real events and real people.
I also write a lot of flash fiction posts in response to word or photo prompts or to whatever pops into my head. Sometimes the situations in my flash fiction posts may be loosely based on real events and the characters may be loosely based upon real people.
Or sometimes the situations and characters in my flash fiction posts are totally concocted from somewhere deep inside my mind.
And that’s what I love about blogging. I can be inspired by and write about whatever I want to write about, from real events and real people to the totally unreal figments of my imagination.
Welcome to “Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge.” Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenging bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the photo. There are no style or word limits.
The photo below is from Antenna at Unsplash.For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows a group of people in a meeting room participating in a discussion of some sort.
If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.
Thanks to all of you who have participated in these challenges. Your posts have been very creative. Please take a few minutes to read the other responses to this photo challenge.
Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.
Welcome to May 31, 2021 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.
I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).
Today’s word is “berserk.”
Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.
Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.
And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.
We met in the classroom during that transitory first semester of our freshman year in college. She and I soon became best of friends and by the time our freshman year ended, our friendship at evolved into a romantic relationship.
She persuaded her parents to invite me home with her for the long Thanksgiving weekend of our sophomore year, and I was very nervous. She tried to reassure me that as long as I didn’t foam at the mouth upon meeting them, her parents would welcome me with open arms.
In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have been quite so overly effusive.
Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (classroom), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (transitory), Ragtag Daily Prompt (friend), Word of the Day Challenge (relationship) , MMA Storytime (foam), and Your Daily Word Prompt (effusive).
For today’s Sunday Poser, Sadje wants to know about first impressions. She asks…
“In your opinion, is the first impression we form of other people always correct?”
While I subscribe to the old saying, “You will never get a second chance to make a first impression,” I’m quite happy that first impressions aren’t always last impressions.
Case in point, when I first met the woman who ultimately ended up marrying me, my first impression of her was truly a case of love at first site. Her first impression of me was not that great. I think it took her a second, third, and fourth impression to realize what a great catch I was.
So yeah, I’m quite happy that the first impression my wife formed of me was not correct.
The idea behind Who Won the Week is to give you the opportunity to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.
I will be posting this prompt on Sunday mornings (my time). If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.
This week’s Who Won the Week winner is, unfortunately, gun violence in America. So far this year, in just five months, there have been at least 232 mass shootings. And that includes 15 mass murders, which is defined as four or more people killed.Meanwhile, two gun reform bills that have been passed by the House of Representatives are pending in the senate. These bills would require expanded background checks for gun purchasers and would give authorities ten business days for federal background checks to be completed before a gun sale can be permitted.
But these bills are unlikely to get passed in the Senate even though the majority of Americans, including Republicans, support more effective gun laws. But most Senate Republicans will vote against gun reform legislation. And even with the Democrats holding a 51-50 majority in the Senate (with VP Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote giving the Dems the majority), the Republicans will block gun reform legislation due to the filibuster.
The filibuster is a Senate procedural rule that requires a vote by 60 of the 100 senators to cut off debate and advance a bill. With the Senate divided 50-50, Democrats would need the support of 10 Republicans to move most bills.
And so gun violence in America is the winner of the week, with no end in sight.
What about you? Who (or what) do you think won the week?
For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams’ has given us the options of selecting songs about towns, cities, counties, states, or countries. I’ve always lived in relatively large metropolitan areas and have never actually lived in a small town, which is why I’ve always been fascinated by Simon & Garfunkel’s song, “My Little Town.”
“My Little Town” was a 1975 song by the American duo Simon & Garfunkel. It was written by Paul Simon, who produced the track along with Art Garfunkel and Phil Ramone. It became the duo’s eighth top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in late 1975, peaking at number nine.
Interestingly, Simon and Garfunkel had decided to part ways in 1970 and to record their own solo material. In June 1972 they were asked to reunite and to sing at a political benefit concert for U. S. presidential candidate George McGovern at Madison Square Garden, New York City. Then, in early 1975, Simon had decided to prepare material for a new solo album in which the music was a bit more personal. But he said that “My Little Town”was written with Garfunkel specifically in mind. Simon had been quoted as saying, “It originally was a song I was writing for Artie. I was gonna write a song for his new album, and I told him it would be a nasty song, because he was singing too many sweet songs. It seemed like a good concept for him.” After playing the song for Garfunkel, the two decided to collaborate again in the studio on this one track.
Simon has stated that the song was not autobiographical. He said that it was about “someone who hated the town he grew up in and was happy to get out.” But Garfunkel has explained that the song was, in fact, about his own childhood and how he “grew up in an area where a career in music was not seen as either desirable or exciting.”
When I listen to the song and read the lyrics, my impression is that it was written about a kid who grows up in a small town, but wants to get out and to never come back, leaving the dead and dying behind. The song is incredibly evocative, conveying feelings of nostalgia, fondness, cynicism, and disillusionment, where the now older, wiser young man can see the unattractive truth that his youthful innocence obscured.
Here are the lyrics to “My Little Town.”
In my little town I grew up believing God keeps his eye on us all And He used to lean upon me As I pledged allegiance to the wall Lord, I recall
My little town Coming home after school Flying my bike past the gates Of the factories My mom doing the laundry Hanging our shirts In the dirty breeze
And after it rains There’s a rainbow And all of the colors are black It’s not that the colors aren’t there It’s just imagination they lack Everything’s the same Back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying Back in my little town Nothing but the dead and dying Back in my little town
In my little town I never meant nothin’ I was just my father’s son Saving my money Dreaming of glory Twitching like a finger On the trigger of a gun Leaving nothing but the dead and dying Back in my little town
Nothing but the dead and dying Back in my little town Nothing but the dead and dying Back in my little town
Welcome to “Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge.” Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenging bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the photo. There are no style or word limits.
For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows a group of people in a meeting room participating in a discussion of some sort.
Welcome to May 31, 2021 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.
The idea behind Who Won the Week is to give you the opportunity to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.
Meanwhile, two gun reform bills that have been passed by the House of Representatives are pending in the senate. These bills would require expanded background checks for gun purchasers and would give authorities ten business days for federal background checks to be completed before a gun sale can be permitted.
Facts, Fictions & Fantasies 
