A Sad Time

Words cannot describe the pain that the relatives of the children and teachers of Sandy hook elementary school are feeling today. I can't imagine that anyone will have the answer to why the shooter took his emotional and mental problems out on 20 innocent children. What I find so unsettling is that he won't suffer the consequences. If there is a compensation for every bad thing that we do, it usually, one way or another, comes back to us. The shooter took his own life after his rampage. I feel like this is an easy way out.. if he killed himself will he receive any kind of consequence? or was the consequence his life coming to an end? My questions are not important in. The lives of the families involved in the crisis is what matters. Right before Christmas the families are dealing with the loss of their own children. I cannot imagine what that pain must feel like, but all of my empathy goes out to them. We hear about all the these instances in the news, but it has never made me feel the way I do about this one. Just a mere 45 minutes away and something of such tragic stature has occurred. It can happen anywhere, at any time. It is real and absolutely terrifying. 

FREEDOM

For my comp and lit 2 class I have to write a paper on what freedom is. It sounds like a relatively easy concept, but what the hell is freedom?? To what extent are we free? I live in the united states, a country constantly preaching its biggest selling point.."freedom." Do we really believe we are free just because we are told that we are? For example, what if someone decides to sit in the park one night, but because it closes at dusk a police officer asks you to leave because you are now trespassing.  How about when the sun goes down earlier in fall/winter than it does in spring/summer? If that particular night was 5:00 pm in fall, it is past dusk, you are trespassing. In the spring the sun didn't set until 7:00....well now your not trespassing. This seems absurd, but who decides that is not your freedom to sit in a park at night? Who decides what time is best appropriate to enjoy a stroll in a park? "You are not FREE to sit in a park at 5:00 in fall, but come back in spring, you will be FREE to stay until 7:00!" So again, I ask, To what extent are we free? What is freedom? Should it be governed? legislated? Are we free when we allow ourselves to question what is preached and find out for ourselves what we truly believe? Let me know what you think.