A few weeks ago, my husband and I spent two days in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he spoke for a financial conference. It was my first time there and I saw little other than the airport, conference center and the road between the two. Nonetheless, what I did see what had character. I didn’t have to guess whether I was in Boston or Dallas; the landscape, architecture and décor were unique.
Keeping kosher, the cities in which we can sample local cuisine are few. In this case, we brought our food with us and ate in our room. It boggles our mind to think of arriving somewhere and being able to choose from thousands of different restaurants. However, if we were able to eat in many locations, there is something new being offered in some eateries that I would seek out.
It seems that as companies like Starbucks and Chipotle are asking patrons not to bring their guns inside, other places are putting out big “welcome” signs. Not surprisingly, many of these are small, local places.
The advent of the super highway system brought many wonderful things in its wake. One outcome with both benefits and liabilities was the expansion of chain stores throughout the land. While it’s great to be able to get a Venti Caramel Macchiato wherever one finds oneself, for a store to have a national policy on homosexual marriage, guns or minimum wage is less appealing – especially as liberal thinking tends to dominate.
Shannon Watts, who founded Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, states, “Restaurants routinely protect their patrons form second-hand smoke, so it makes sense they would go out of their way to protect them from bullets as well.” I completely agree with her words and I am also a mom who would like gun sense in America, but she and I are 180 degrees apart. I think having large numbers of mentally healthy, trained, responsible gun owners carrying their weapons with them is the best way to protect patrons from (criminally used) bullets. I don’t think that is exactly the action Shannon wants.
Albuquerque gave the impression of being an individualistic, western frontier. We did not have time to explore its streets. Had we the time and had keeping kosher not been an issue, would I have been able to mingle with some gun-toting moms? It would have been fun to try.
P.S. I was just present at a scary incident and while I don’t have time to write it up in time to add to this Musing, I hope to write it for a future one. As it was taking place, I was thinking how relieved I would have been had I thought that a number of the women with me were armed.
I have received a number of emails asking how to stand with and help Israel. In addition to prayer, I recommend looking at the work of www.oneisraelfund.org. Also, find an honest and morally driven source of news. Becoming well educated is needed for politely but firmly rebutting false propaganda.
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Have you seen me on TV? Take a Musing but remove the time to re-write and edit – and you get a TV show. (Sometimes, that is very worrying.) I love getting your feedback on both the Musings and on the show.
The Ancient Jewish Wisdom TV Show
with
Rabbi Daniel and Susan Lapin
available as a set or individually
Thank you, Susan, much appreciated.
Jan – I am so sorry for your situation. It sounds awful. I pray your move goes well.
Fear is felt by many today. I live in a rural area and would not be able to cope at all with the stress of living here by myself if I did not have my own “protection plan.” I will be moving this fall because I want to feel more secure in my own home. Knowing that I will be moving soon is what makes it bearable for now. There is a major “problem” down the street from me and it brings into our neighborhood many “undesirables” weekly and so weekly they pass by my home which is completely obscured by trees from the rest of my neighbors.
I thank God for my motion-detection lights as they have helped deter these people who, in the middle of the night, have turned into my driveway (with their lights off!). A couple of them have even gotten out of their vehicles before realizing that I was looking out the window at them. For now, I am basically trying to sleep with one eye open which does not result in good quality sleep. 🙁 Too bad I cannot identify their tag numbers clearly because County law enforcement is asking for help in identifying these people. My neighbor, when he was not at home, “lost” all of his mechanic’s tools (thousands of dollars worth) due to these middle-of-the-night “treasure hunters.”
I feel empathy for all those living in fear in Israel. Here is one voice of reason speaking for the defense of Israel against its enemies: http://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2014/08/09/when_christians_blame_israel.html
Vanaly, a few friends and I were talking Wednesday and we all worry that the safety we had May not be there for our children. Incredibly sad and a reason to fight not to let it happen.
more ‘n likely you were…a few years ago I was in an art club meeting.. just for fun I asked what the ‘girls’ had in their purses… all had a camera, all but one had a pistol, and all had some kind of small Bible or part of the Bible. (Psalms, or just the New Testament)…11 ladies from about 30 to 65 … i have 13 beautiful great grandbabies and am praying they grow up in the same healthy safe environment i have been privileged to live in for nearly 80 years…
vanaly palmer
Peter – this is fascinating. I think another factor at work is that fewer and fewer Americans come from backgrounds where guns were positive. More and more people simply have no familiarity with guns. Also, there is the wishful thinking that got the current president elected. I want the world to be peaceful and good and it will be peaceful and good if I only (vote for Obama)(support gun control), etc. It never works, but it temporarily makes people feel optimistic as long as they don’t think too deeply.
Hi Susan:
When traditionally minded folks aren’t comfortable around guns, they don’t buy a gun. Other more progressive minded folks, however, because guns make them extremely uncomfortable want guns taken away from everybody else.
David Kupelian may have put his finger on why; this passage is from his 2010 book How Evil Works; the excerpt is from a chapter titled The Mysterious Power of Hate:
“Shooting the Messenger
“In fact, projecting our own inner darkness onto others is such a successful technique to avoid facing ourselves, we’ve even figured out how to turn inanimate objects into scapegoats – for instance, by attaching the hatred and violence within us to a lifeless piece of metal. I’m talking here about the fact that large numbers of us “hate,” “are afraid of,” or “are uncomfortable around” firearms.
“Doesn’t that seem odd? Guns are, without question, indispensable for restraining the evil intentions of criminals and tyrants. Indeed, exhaustive research proves more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens results in less crime. Yet millions of us nevertheless consider guns almost inherently evil, and well-funded organizations are dedicated to banning them.
“But the evil is not in the gun – it’s in us. Nevertheless, if they make us feel uncomfortable, we conveniently blame the guns.
“Do we dare examine the disturbing truth behind this common phenomenon? Warning: this is scary.
“Microscope, please. Let’s focus on the strange thoughts and feelings – never spoken, never acknowledged to anyone else, not even to ourselves – that arise from the depths of many of us in the presence of a loaded firearm sitting there on the table:
“Why don’t you pick up that gun and blow your brains out?
“You could kill a whole lot of people with that gun.
“Why not shoot her right now? That would shut her up!
“That’s right. Dark thoughts and impulses, too horrible to dwell upon or even acknowledge, occur to many of us at the mere sight of a firearm or a naked blade. When we see the weapon, we sense the presence of evil – so naturally we assume the gun is its source, when actually the gun’s close proximity caused our own buried, angry, violent tendencies to surface for a moment.
Thus many people who “dislike” or “are uncomfortable around” guns are actually afraid of what they might do if they had a loaded firearm in their hand. And I’m not talking about criminal types here. I’m talking about “nice” people – nice on the outside, and lots of buried and perhaps unrecognized rage inside. Again, the presence of the gun simply causes his or her own dark, angry propensities to “stir a little” deep down.
But the reality of all this is too heavy and “negative” for many of us to face, so we instantly and unconsciously project our own buried violence onto the gun, as though an inanimate hunk of metal, a tool, could somehow be intrinsically evil.”
from – How Evil Works (2010), by David Kupelian pp. 198-199
I completely agree.
So many families were like mine in the old USA. On both sides were farmers and on one side pioneers. There were reptiles, wolves, wildcats and bears out there, and to be sure, certain Indians were not always on best of terms with the settlers. So these families owned guns, they kept them near at hand and they knew how to use them.
But when the Progs succeed in destroying the Constitution’s Second Amendment, you can bet that two groups will own guns: (1) The police and other enforcement arms of Government, and (2) Criminals. When that happens, what will you do on the day they come for YOU?