Loughner

I find it curious that Jared Loughner both worried about the over-reach of Government, which is a politically conservative concern, and that Government is controlling us with talk of God - "I will not trust in God!" he said in his "farewell" - which is tacitly a liberal concern. For Democrats to accuse Republicans of eliciting his attempted assassination is about as accurate as Rush Limbaugh saying he did it because he smoked Marijuana, or listened to Heavy Metal. As Loughner's philosophy professor said, he was a young man whose "brains were scrambled."

What do we expect, this kind of violence, in a Nation where even crazy people can buy a handgun? A Nation that wages continuous wars, against other nations, against our own people, against the Earth? A country in which violence is so ingrained we hardly know when we are being violent, against other nations, against our own people, against ourselves or against the Earth.

I don't expect this will be a time of healing for the nation. It seems to me the vitriol and recriminations are getting worse, which will undermine faith in the political process even more. The great unravelling of a great nation. A time of great sorrow.

What can I do but look at my own behavior? How am I violent? To what and to whom? Not physical violence alone, but verbal and mental violence, dreams of tearing down and destroying. And not just violence against people or myself, but against any aspect of the Earth.

We have been at war from our Nation's beginning, well before the first writing of that document Loughner so venerated without having the context or capacity to comprehend. We will continue to war as long as we hold to the illusion that we are not a violent people, that it is freedom and peace we love. I love my country, and I am afraid for it.

Blessings in these times of troubles.