To set the scene a little: you're in a major car wreck. While you're being worked on, your kids are screaming in the back seat, and you have no idea how injured they are. You hear a call for a medical helicopter, and your kids are transported. . . only to have the helicopter shot at as they fly overhead.
What kind of lily-livered, yellow-bellied, ovary-lacking, ugly carbon bag of mostly water could want to do this?
This right here? This is domestic terrorism. Rapists, serial killers, people who shoot at helicopters, all belong in that special hell with child molestors and people who talk in movie theaters, and they all deserve to be tried for treason (except for the talkers, they just need to be ejected with massive amounts of humiliation).
To harm a child is to take an active role in ensuring that the future is a little worse off. That child could have been the President of the United States, the scientist who cures cancers, the mother who raises her children to be good people, the author who writes a book that changes the course of human history.
To fire up on a helicopter with a humanitarian mission to serve sick children should be counted among the lowest of human actions, but unfortunately, this sort of violence is exactly the kind of thing the U.S. should expect, and it will only get worse from here.
People are desperate. The debacle with the debt crisis now has its first truly visible and immediate consequence: the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. Like a patient with obesity, the U.S. is collapsing under the weight of its own gluttonous consumption and appetite for debt. Most people heed the warning signs, and get their weight under control once symptoms like shortness of breath and high blood pressure appear.
Increasing violence is a hallmark of a collapsing society, just as cholesterol levels are the hallmark of heart attacks. We cannot afford to ignore the connection between economic security and physical safety. The answer to being safer is not more guns or more violence, but more help for those who need it. The U.S. has the choice to hand its poor a sandwich or a gun; unfortunately, it seems like Congress is more comfortable with handing out guns than food.
People from States are a special sort, able to turn a blind eye to all but the most immediate of problems. The U.S. continues to hemorrhage money, with no real debate on how to match the spending with revenue. A home-owner might take a second job to cover the bills, but the U.S. has fewer options. Ultimately, taxes must be raised, and the sooner Congress sucks it up and deals with that, the sooner the rest of the country (and the world) can move on with recovery.
In the meantime, keep an eye out for things like this. Work on getting your family in a position where you can move quickly, if necessary. Even if you never need to actually evacuate, having the resources available may still serve you in other ways. Get out of debt.
And most of all, help your neighbor. Your neighbor will be more likely to call the cops if your property is being robbed if they know who you are, if you have helped them with the yardwork, the kids, the pets. Good fences make good neighbors, that's true, but it also helps to build an isolation that causes all to be at risk.
Hopefully these monsters will soon have better things to do than shoot at children's medical helicopters.
