America the Violent

It's now been three days since the Boston bombings, and I can see some light at the end of the tunnel. Waking up this morning, it was not the first thing I thought of. Apparently life goes on, at least for all of us who weren't there. Soon enough we'll forget it completely and move on, no doubt distracted by newer and even more deadly disasters, until next year's Boston Marathon when we say, "Oh yeah, remember last year when there were those horrible bombs?" Just like we forgot the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and the Aurora movie theater, and Oklahoma City, and the Gabby Giffords thing, and the several colleges--their names escape me now--where a lone gunman ran loose, killing randomly, for hours. And of course, Columbine.

Face it: America's a violent place. There are lots of murders all the time, like in Detroit and Chicago and DC. And anyone can get a gun, it's easy as pie. Actually, it's easier than pie, since baking a pie takes a couple of hours and buying a gun, at least when it's a private sale or at a gun show, can be accomplished in as little as five or ten minutes. And about those background checks many are clamoring for: I'm confused as to how that would even help, since not all psychopaths have a record of wrongdoing that would raise a red flag. Besides, we now have fresh proof of that new adage, "Guns don't kill people, bombs do."

So I stay holed up here in Maine, and avoid walks in the woods during hunting season. Sure it's boring sometimes, but there are no bullets grazing my forehead, and that makes it nice.