This topic may not be a fun one, but I should want to return to church, but my heart isn’t there. I find the church now resembles politics and a hierarchy. Church used to fill a void, but now I’m sour. I have faith. I don’t know if Christ resides in the church. If you go, please help dispel what I now think.
"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. "
Second Amendment to the US Constitution (1791)
Back in 1791, those who agreed the wording of The Second Amendment never imagined that America would become the nation it is today. Back then, the population of America was around 2.5 million. Now it is 334 million.
They could not have foreseen how big American cities would become. They could not have imagined motor vehicles, air travel, supermarkets and high rise buildings - let alone gun shops filled with an array of deadly weapons, including automatic rifles.
The way that the gun lobby have clung to The Second Amendment is disingenuous. Those folk want to ignore the fact that time has marched on and it is 230 years since well-meaning men drafted The Second Amendment. They could not have anticipated how their amendment would be so misused to justify gun ownership and the slaughter of innocent victims in shopping malls, schools, workplaces and housing estates.
There were 695 mass shootings in the USA last year in which 762 people were killed and 2,902 were wounded. I emphasise that these were mass shootings in which four or more people were killed at each bloody event. Excluding suicides, 20,138 were killed in shootings in 2022. I repeat that - 20,138 people.
I may be a cleverdick limey who should keep his big nose out of American affairs but please don't shoot me! Instead, listen to this plea. It's time to take stock. It is time to turn the tide on guns and gun ownership. The Second Amendment should be resigned to history where it belongs. It is time to reduce the death figures, the mass shootings figures, the widespread possession of guns that on January 1st 2022 augured 20,138 more killings - including hundreds of innocent children.
It was skills practice in college tonight , so I played the counsellor (on line )which was interesting.We are a group of three and this evening had an opportunity to honestly share why we picked each other to “ do” therapy .
I like my fellow students and I guess that is why we were all there …for we like each other.
Donna is a fast talking , nervous Social worker who loves her cats, is theatrically and constantly irritated by her husband and who laughs without a filter.
Caroline is deep, a saleswoman who is good at what she does but who needs to change her career
And there’s me
Three different people who bonded over Carl Rogers, CBT and Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
Tonight we did skills practice and I talked about my weight and it was important and supportive and caring
We also talked about other things not for Going Gently to share, but I must say that we left tonight’s session each feeling we’ve made two new friends.
