A little perspective on struggles

Sometimes I wonder am I the only one who says to herself “I just gotta get through this tough week and then it will be smooth sailing?” But, like, every single week?

The struggle is real. On the one hand I just want to stay all tucked in at home but also socialize and go places; buy all “The Things” but save my money; get super fit but also lounge on the sofa with a good book eating whatever I want, whenever I want it.

This was especially true this past week when sleep continued to elude me and temperatures soared. Honestly I didn’t have to go any further than my own sofa or do anything but sit there to work up a good soaking sweat. You know the kind of sweat that drips in your eyes, makes the inside of your thighs slippery, runs in rivulets down your back and cleanses your pores better than any spa treatment. Ahhhh summer, the season of fire and sweating which, like I always say, is that all purpose, doesn’ttake-any-special-skill-orequipment activity that anyone can do in private or public, dressed or naked. It’s the universal enterprise.

Then there were the

Jan. 6 committee hearings. The footage was chilling despite the heat. It was like watching a whodunit where you already know who did it but ya gotta keep watching to find out if democracy lives or dies in the end.

As I watched, I was reminded of all the Star

Wars movies. No matter how many times the good guys win, nationalism, totalitarianism and fascism keep coming back. It’s a vicious cycle in a galaxy not so far, far away from ours. May the Force be with us.

Then there was the largely missed “breaking news” from the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence incidents across the country. As of June 5 there had been 246 mass shootings — defined as incidents where four or more people, not including the shooter, are shot but not necessarily killed — in the United States. The numbers are on par with 2021 when there were also 246 mass shootings from Jan. 1 through June 5. Last year, with 692 total mass shootings, was the worst year on record for gun violence since the Gun Violence Archive began tracking the numbers in 2014.

For some perspective, there were 417 mass shootings in 2019. In 2020 there were 610. Notice the trend?

For a little more perspective, this year 1,357 people have been shot during mass shootings, resulting in 278 deaths. Last year, during the same time, 1,293 people were shot in mass shooting, resulting in 280 deaths. In 2020, 802 people were shot in mass shootings, resulting in 152 deaths. Again, notice the trend? It ain’t good by any stretch of the imagination.

Think about this for a moment: with 246 mass shootings in 155 days there has been more than one mass shooting a day for two years running. If this doesn’t highlight the prevalence of gun violence in this country, than I don’t know what does.

In the past two years plus the first 155 days of this year 3,452 people became part of the Victims of a Mass Shooting Club with 710 of them losing their lives and leaving untold scores of loved ones to join in mourning as members of the I Lost Someone I Loved in a Mass Shooting Club. Neither a club anyone wants to be a member of and yet, here we are with more and more of our fellow Americans tragically, sickeningly, swelling the membership ranks.

It’s a vicious cycle of gun violence followed by thoughts and prayers followed by inaction followed by another mass shooting followed by thoughts and prayers followed by inaction. And it’s happening not in a galaxy far, far away but right here in our own back yards. May The Force be with us. And may we have the strength and courage to lift, not just our voices, but also our Light Sabers each and every time we have the opportunity to vote for and support solutions so no one else becomes a member of the Mass Shooting Club.