Hell of a Book

by Jason Mott

“But people have always died, right?” The Kid asks. “True,” I reply. “And it’s not like the news makes the deaths. I mean, CNN and Fox News aren’t out there killing people in the streets. But they do add to the overall air of dread that we all feel. It’s the soundtrack of America right now. The jam we all bump and grind to. People being shot is the way we mark the passage of time now. Like, where were you when Sandy Hook happened? And do you remember who you were dating around the time when those people shot up that office building? But it happens so much that you then have to ask: ‘What office building?’” I try to flash a smile at the kid as my way of consoling him for the world that he finds himself in. “But it’s just the way it is. There’s no harm in it. Every generation had their share of tragedies. It’s just that we all happen to hear about them more. Fact of the matter is, the murder rate is the lowest it’s been since the 1980s. And I know you’re too young to understand, but believe me when I say that the 1980s were the heyday of bad things, and crime, and killings, and drugs, and everything else.”