A reader responds to how Americans feel about Newtown, CT

By Frosty Wooldridge

You could say that a lot of Americans feel tremendous pain and anguish over what happened in Newtown, Connecticut last week. It wrenched their souls.

It wrenched my soul that five kids suffer death daily in America at the hands of their parents or caregivers.  Yes, a Newtown, CT occurs every four days in America without notice.  That’s 1,825 kids die from child abuse every year in America without notice. I’d say that’s pretty sickening because it goes on and on and on without response.

Only when something horrific on a grand scale occurs, we get sick to our stomachs.

A Ph.D. wrote me about our dilemma. Dr. Dean Anderson of Lewiston, MT gave a few thoughts that I felt merited your attention.

“Politicians will be sitting on the fence with both ears on the ground so as to plan their conduct of public affairs for private advantage, blaming symptoms of the Newtown tragedy rather than addressing a disease beyond their comprehension,” said Anderson. “Christians and Jews may find some solace in Isaiah XLV, 7, c. 700 B.C., “I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.”  Other faiths will find comfort in their own way.  The atheist will consider only the present with nothing beyond the grave to hold him accountable for his conduct.  Evil, stalking among us, will go away limping when we learn how to deal with our weaknesses.

“The dehumanization of American culture is evident in school curriculums.  Many social programs are not conducive to embracing that cohesiveness necessary to engage the principles on which we were founded. There is little rigor and discipline incorporated in school programs building on the good rather than the granting of, and analyzing, permissiveness for wrongheadedness; unconstructive wayward beliefs and morals are passed over or excused for the sake of self-esteem damaging to the individual and others when uncontrolled and misunderstood. 

“Self-worth that depends on accomplishment, within accepted standards of behavior, is trivialized.  Churches have fallen into this trap for the sake of attracting membership and “passing the plate,” instead of acting on the charge inherent in their principles of faith.

“Also, it may be time to examine the manner in which the medical and legal professions deal with and accept the responsibility of these tragedies when, on their advice, troubled individuals are released back into society where they can commit these atrocious acts. Maybe it is time to incarcerate members of these professions when they are responsible for their own inabilities to protect the general population. Some may be deserving of life sentences for their incompetence. For the sake of convenience, too many take the easy road to profits and advancement rather than the difficult rutted path to justice.

“The feckless speak of guns as causative when they are merely tools of a deep underlying societal pathology with symptoms: dysfunctional families, divorce, no father, no mother, faithlessness, laws and regulations damaging to marriage, desensitizing and senseless social programs in public education, and a host of other issues, all failing to provide the discipline and judgment necessary to function as a society.

“Thought must not be so superficial as to fail to recognize the symptoms of a disease reaching unacceptable proportions that require effort, rigor and discipline to analyze and, then, act upon outside of political expediency.

“You cannot politicize the evil of guns without similar treatment of all objects we confront as part of our humanity.  It is the evil we do not recognize in ourselves creating the evil we see.

“This is but one grain of sand on the beach, expressing an opinion.”

Anderson spells it out in his own understanding of what we have done to ourselves.  I feel that we cannot think that we can show such God-awful violence on TV, movies and videos games for decades on end—and not reap the whirlwind of consequences.  Heck, kids watch Criminal Minds and use that kind of torture and sadism for their own plots to kill and wreak havoc in their own communities.

The greater tragedy stems from the fact that 20 kids die at the hands of their parents every four days in America. Think about it:  a Newtown, CT mass killing every four days in America is the norm. 

It’s time to change course, change TV programming, change movie violence, change video violence and move our culture toward a more peaceful, loving and positive experience for our kids, parents and all living creatures.

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 Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents – from the Arctic to the South Pole – as well as eight times across the USA, coast to coast and border to border. In 2005, he bicycled from the Arctic Circle, Norway to Athens, Greece. In 2012, he bicycled coast to coast across America.  His latest book is: How to Live a Life of Adventure: The Art of Exploring the World by Frosty Wooldridge, copies at 1 888 280 7715/ Motivational program: How to Live a Life of Adventure: The Art of Exploring the World by Frosty Wooldridge, click:

www.HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com