Birthday Boy

 So today is my birthday. 59 laps around the sun. Normally, I don't make a big deal out of my birthday. And today is really no exception. Except that there's something that feels final about 59. Because next year is, well, lets just say it's a year that end in a zero and that is always somebody's idea of a big deal.

Anyway, this morning, as I have done every November 14 for the last 30 years or so, I played this song - "Birthday Boy" by Chicago.  But today, the lyrics hit me harder than they have in the past. 

So, I share them here for you to consider. 

"Birthday Boy" by Danny Seraphine and David J. Wolinski

Birthday boy, blow out the candles;
Good friends around you, you should feel O.K.
Don't look so sad and blue;
Don't act forsaken, this day's for you.
Good days are coming, my friend;
Life can be easy 'til the end.
Birthday boy, don't fear tomorrow;
Changes before you; years drift away.
You see life as pictures, frame to frame;
Many years wasted, what a shame.
Good days are coming, my friend;
Life can be easy 'til the end, 'til the end.
That empty feeling won't go away;
Caught up in hurting, day after day;
When will you see the joy in your life?
It's there for you, it's there for you.
Don't look so sad and blue;
Don't act forsaken, this day's for you.
Good days are coming, once you stop running;
Life could be easy, easy for you.

Again. And Again. And Again.

 It happened again. Again, I sit here with my head in my hands as I try to come to grips with still another mass school shooting.  18 lives taken in Texas. 18 more!!

At what point do we finally wake up, America? At what point do we, whether we are "red" or "blue", finally decide that enough is enough. No more. No more mass shootings. No more gunmen in supermarkets.  No more gunmen on subways. And,  dammit, no more gunmen in schools!!  When does it end?

And don't hand me that Second Amendment bullshit either, because there is no way in Hell that our founding fathers ever thought we'd have access to weapons, for our personal use, that had more firepower than any Colonial general ever had at any battle, with ALL of their weapons combined.  So for all of you who are purists to the Constitution, I say if you want guns, get muskets.  And while you're at it, turn off your damned electric lights, and park your F150 at the curb and grab some candles and a horse or two. You want to live by the exact words of 1787? Then live LIKE it's 1787.

I'm a teacher. And tomorrow I have to go into my school. And, once again, I will look cross-eyed at anyone who approaches my building and is not 100 percent familiar to me. Once again, we will have police cars parked outside the building. And once again, I will listen to the bullshit about "thoughts and prayers."  Well I for one am sick of all the "thoughts and prayers."

It's time to get our country back. And don't tell me we can get there on prayer alone.  No, we need some gutsy legislators to put themselves out there and propose gun legislation that makes sense. Gun legislation that will finally do something about all of these mass shootings. Because while we may consider our country to be head and shoulders above all the others - and yes, in many ways we are - we are so far behind on common sense gun legislation it makes my head spin.

The Supreme Court will, in a few weeks, overturn Roe v Wade, which will effectively put an end to abortion in so many states. Why? Because, according to many, life begins at conception and therefore needs to be preserved.  Well listen, geniuses - life is also supposed to continue beyond birth. Preferably to an old age.  So if you want to preserve all life - especially you Conservatives that go on and on about no abortions but how we need to keep our guns - it's time for you all to pull your heads out of your respective asses and put your money where you mouth is.

Gun control. NOW. Not later.