April Fools’ Day
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. I hold no designations in politics, economics or medicine. I am retired from the mental health field. I am a humanitarian and speak from that viewpoint only. Whether you agree with me or not, at least I hope it makes you think. This week I discuss the seemingly never ending April Fools’ Day. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!
Lately, reading the news on my timeline is rather reminiscent of Groundhog Day, a 1993 movie starring Bill Murray (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/). The premise was someone living the same day over and over in an attempt to get it right. Except, instead of Groundhog Day, it’s more like April Fools’ Day over and over because it seems a round of things that seem to be hoaxes or at least one wishes they were. The problem is many of the things not only are not funny, they are real and in some cases tragic. Let’s start with a recent shooting in a school in the USA. The headline said it all. https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/nashvill... “Nashville shooting highlights security at private schools”. Really, this is what was highlighted? Three children and three staff members were murdered in cold blood. This isn’t the first or only such incident in the USA. It doesn’t seem to matter what school. What is the factor that is the same in all of these multiple murders committed in a school? The person who gets into the school has a gun. Let’s focus on security in schools? How can we make schools more secure from people carrying guns and going in and shooting people? But, no, they would rather blame the school. Sure, they’re the ones that are at fault if we’re going to be sarcastic about it. What I have to wonder about is what blaming the victims does to resolve the issue? Are the kids at fault for attending school? Is the school staff at fault for working in a school? No of course not, but isn’t that what focusing on security does? It blames the school for not keeping the kids safe from people breaking into the school and killing people with a gun. Their end statement, “…we live in a broken, fallen world," he said. "And we need to be vigilant to care for one another as best we can."? But, we must protect the right to play with guns. We can’t infringe on this. How many children have to die?
Of course, further investigation into this particular case shows that her parents did not think she should have a gun…yet she had more than one and some legally obtained. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/28/us/cov.... It is tragic that her own family thought she should not have a gun, yet there was nothing to stop her from legally obtaining guns. It further states, “The attack was the 19th shooting at an American school or university in 2023 in which at least one person was wounded, according to a CNN tally, and the deadliest since the May attack in Uvalde, Texas, left 21 dead. There have been 42 K-12 school shootings since Uvalde.” (https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/28/us/cov...). Do I propose that we take away people’s rights? Not at all. The major question that I see is; who is speaking for the rights of people who were living one day and dead the next just because they attended school and someone came in with a gun? Who is speaking for the rights of the children to attend school in a safe place without worrying about being used as targets? There seems to be confusion as to what rights are important.
Even more horrific; I had read some comments that seemed to suggest that we could fix the problem by arming teachers. First, this is not the militia. This is a school. Teachers are meant to teach children. This is, of course, not the only issue. If a teacher has a weapon in the classroom, what happens if someone disarms them? What happens if someone slips the gun out of their possession? Is this going to solve a problem or potentially create more problems? Teachers do not have police training. Do we want to include that too, into their training? Even with police training, shooting another human being can be a traumatic event. Many police officers who do so are traumatized and may solders develop PTSD. So, how many students and teachers might end up with PTSD inadvertently because we arm the teachers? Where is the logic in that suggestion?
The tragedy of this, according to the same article, (https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/28/us/cov...) is that the attack was well planned out. There was a message sent out to someone they had been friends with, but too late to do any good. Even sadder, Firearms are a leading cause of death among children and adolescents in 2021. We focus on curing childhood illnesses like cancer, but we don’t want to focus on finding a way to save children from being shot and killed? Are we that far gone as a society that we are willing to risk the lives of our children by handing guns to people with little to no thought. The following article shows how some changes can save lives. https://www.reuters.com/world/how-can... . These are actual cases and measures. But, why expect people to look at stats and facts when rhetoric is determined to be the ‘Golden Mean’.
At the same time some political agendas are busily denigrating the LGBTQ+ Community and any time someone there sneezes; this becomes an attribute to the whole group, yet they don’t like it when someone points out that they are being discriminatory. They come up with whatever they can find. Of course to add more confusion into the whole thing, apparently we need to be protected from people doing shows in drag. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Much like nude David…if you don’t want to see it, don’t go see it. But then where do you draw the line and can you enforce it?
Sometimes, I shake my head because I get a ‘what century are we in again’ moment. The next in my series of this can’t be real and maybe April 1 it will come out to be a sick April Fools’ joke follows close behind. The need to legislate what women do with their bodies seems excessive. This attitude smacks of ancient views of earlier centuries where women were seen as being ‘morally weak’. Of course we’re not competent to run our own lives. Just ask men from the court of Henry VIII (https://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2012...). Because, you know we have no conscience of our own, we have to have our husbands’ crack down on us to keep us in line. Isn’t that what the Governments are telling us with the use of laws to keep us from taking care of our own bodies? This is not something that is being done in Canada. Though gun control is a thing being done in Canada…there might be a lesson there. Though Canada has some issues in the realm of respecting women, they are working on it. Such a lack of respect for women and their fellow humans to be able to run their own lives baffles me.
As Phil Bredesen is quoted with saying, “The consequences of decisions don't just affect spreadsheets... They affect, in fundamental ways, the lives of people and they often mean the difference between life and death.” I think when decisions are made, it would be an important factor to consider the consequences of those actions and not just spout out the party line. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope I made you think. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures! Keep watching because we’re always working on something. Thank you!
The podcast that matches this blog post can be found on Anchor FM: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://aandjpeitreasures.wordpress.com/ and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on:
Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-... name a few
All my e-books can be found on:
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
You can also find us on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EJS08026749
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5zp...
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/ej2466
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/e-j-s-151a...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewAandJP...
Lately, reading the news on my timeline is rather reminiscent of Groundhog Day, a 1993 movie starring Bill Murray (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/). The premise was someone living the same day over and over in an attempt to get it right. Except, instead of Groundhog Day, it’s more like April Fools’ Day over and over because it seems a round of things that seem to be hoaxes or at least one wishes they were. The problem is many of the things not only are not funny, they are real and in some cases tragic. Let’s start with a recent shooting in a school in the USA. The headline said it all. https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/nashvill... “Nashville shooting highlights security at private schools”. Really, this is what was highlighted? Three children and three staff members were murdered in cold blood. This isn’t the first or only such incident in the USA. It doesn’t seem to matter what school. What is the factor that is the same in all of these multiple murders committed in a school? The person who gets into the school has a gun. Let’s focus on security in schools? How can we make schools more secure from people carrying guns and going in and shooting people? But, no, they would rather blame the school. Sure, they’re the ones that are at fault if we’re going to be sarcastic about it. What I have to wonder about is what blaming the victims does to resolve the issue? Are the kids at fault for attending school? Is the school staff at fault for working in a school? No of course not, but isn’t that what focusing on security does? It blames the school for not keeping the kids safe from people breaking into the school and killing people with a gun. Their end statement, “…we live in a broken, fallen world," he said. "And we need to be vigilant to care for one another as best we can."? But, we must protect the right to play with guns. We can’t infringe on this. How many children have to die?
Of course, further investigation into this particular case shows that her parents did not think she should have a gun…yet she had more than one and some legally obtained. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/28/us/cov.... It is tragic that her own family thought she should not have a gun, yet there was nothing to stop her from legally obtaining guns. It further states, “The attack was the 19th shooting at an American school or university in 2023 in which at least one person was wounded, according to a CNN tally, and the deadliest since the May attack in Uvalde, Texas, left 21 dead. There have been 42 K-12 school shootings since Uvalde.” (https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/28/us/cov...). Do I propose that we take away people’s rights? Not at all. The major question that I see is; who is speaking for the rights of people who were living one day and dead the next just because they attended school and someone came in with a gun? Who is speaking for the rights of the children to attend school in a safe place without worrying about being used as targets? There seems to be confusion as to what rights are important.
Even more horrific; I had read some comments that seemed to suggest that we could fix the problem by arming teachers. First, this is not the militia. This is a school. Teachers are meant to teach children. This is, of course, not the only issue. If a teacher has a weapon in the classroom, what happens if someone disarms them? What happens if someone slips the gun out of their possession? Is this going to solve a problem or potentially create more problems? Teachers do not have police training. Do we want to include that too, into their training? Even with police training, shooting another human being can be a traumatic event. Many police officers who do so are traumatized and may solders develop PTSD. So, how many students and teachers might end up with PTSD inadvertently because we arm the teachers? Where is the logic in that suggestion?
The tragedy of this, according to the same article, (https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/28/us/cov...) is that the attack was well planned out. There was a message sent out to someone they had been friends with, but too late to do any good. Even sadder, Firearms are a leading cause of death among children and adolescents in 2021. We focus on curing childhood illnesses like cancer, but we don’t want to focus on finding a way to save children from being shot and killed? Are we that far gone as a society that we are willing to risk the lives of our children by handing guns to people with little to no thought. The following article shows how some changes can save lives. https://www.reuters.com/world/how-can... . These are actual cases and measures. But, why expect people to look at stats and facts when rhetoric is determined to be the ‘Golden Mean’.
At the same time some political agendas are busily denigrating the LGBTQ+ Community and any time someone there sneezes; this becomes an attribute to the whole group, yet they don’t like it when someone points out that they are being discriminatory. They come up with whatever they can find. Of course to add more confusion into the whole thing, apparently we need to be protected from people doing shows in drag. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Much like nude David…if you don’t want to see it, don’t go see it. But then where do you draw the line and can you enforce it?
Sometimes, I shake my head because I get a ‘what century are we in again’ moment. The next in my series of this can’t be real and maybe April 1 it will come out to be a sick April Fools’ joke follows close behind. The need to legislate what women do with their bodies seems excessive. This attitude smacks of ancient views of earlier centuries where women were seen as being ‘morally weak’. Of course we’re not competent to run our own lives. Just ask men from the court of Henry VIII (https://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2012...). Because, you know we have no conscience of our own, we have to have our husbands’ crack down on us to keep us in line. Isn’t that what the Governments are telling us with the use of laws to keep us from taking care of our own bodies? This is not something that is being done in Canada. Though gun control is a thing being done in Canada…there might be a lesson there. Though Canada has some issues in the realm of respecting women, they are working on it. Such a lack of respect for women and their fellow humans to be able to run their own lives baffles me.
As Phil Bredesen is quoted with saying, “The consequences of decisions don't just affect spreadsheets... They affect, in fundamental ways, the lives of people and they often mean the difference between life and death.” I think when decisions are made, it would be an important factor to consider the consequences of those actions and not just spout out the party line. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope I made you think. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures! Keep watching because we’re always working on something. Thank you!
The podcast that matches this blog post can be found on Anchor FM: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://aandjpeitreasures.wordpress.com/ and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on:
Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-... name a few
All my e-books can be found on:
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
You can also find us on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EJS08026749
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5zp...
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/ej2466
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/e-j-s-151a...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewAandJP...
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A & J PEI Treasures/E Jean Simpson, BEd, BA, MA
A & J PEI Treasures is located on Prince Edward Island, Canada. We are a husband and wife team and our companion animals. There are a number of things that drew us to the Island…one of which was the n
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