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Writing about the Tragedy of the Week
May. 27th, 2022 08:13 amYesterday I wrote "Two Weeks, Two Tragedies" about the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, TX. I decided to make that a brief post, simply recognizing what happened. As I composed the post first in my head, then initially on paper, it was much longer. I have a lot of thoughts to share about these incidents and the patterns around them. I had been waiting to post, giving myself time both to digest the situation better and write about it fully. While I was waiting for the right moment to write fully about one tragedy (Buffalo) the next one (Uvalde) occurred. So yesterday I decided rather than wait to write fully I would just write something; get something brief and basic out, then build on it later.
I go back and forth about how much time I want to spend blogging about The Tragedy of the Week. Click the tag link below— or check it on LiveJournal where there's longer history if you're reading this on Dreamwidth— and you'll see I've only written about the topic a few times in recent years. Sadly, that's not because such tragedy has been rare but because it's so frequent. Because it's so frequent, writing about it is hard. It's draining. It's also not what I want my blog to be about. Yes, the tragedies of the week are so common that if I wrote about every one— just in the US— it would become a major theme of this blog.
At the same time, though, the tragedy is too much to ignore. We can't just push it to the back of our consciousness. While that's a totally valid coping mechanism, deciding not to let things we feel we can't control occupy space in our minds, it's a terrible way to deal with the situation. People are dying, because people are committing murder. Against innocent people— children, often— in schools, houses of worship, supermarkets, theaters and dance clubs, etc. That can't be let go unaddressed.
I go back and forth about how much time I want to spend blogging about The Tragedy of the Week. Click the tag link below— or check it on LiveJournal where there's longer history if you're reading this on Dreamwidth— and you'll see I've only written about the topic a few times in recent years. Sadly, that's not because such tragedy has been rare but because it's so frequent. Because it's so frequent, writing about it is hard. It's draining. It's also not what I want my blog to be about. Yes, the tragedies of the week are so common that if I wrote about every one— just in the US— it would become a major theme of this blog.
At the same time, though, the tragedy is too much to ignore. We can't just push it to the back of our consciousness. While that's a totally valid coping mechanism, deciding not to let things we feel we can't control occupy space in our minds, it's a terrible way to deal with the situation. People are dying, because people are committing murder. Against innocent people— children, often— in schools, houses of worship, supermarkets, theaters and dance clubs, etc. That can't be let go unaddressed.
