Two sides of Attitude and Gun Violence in U.S.A

            The journey in the foreign land is continuing, similar to the earlier occasions. The view is to see how it goes over time. Till now there are some good days and some bad days. But certainly, the activity has declined when compared to the times in India. I would like to maintain the same momentum here as well, if possible, but it isn’t to be. Not that life is great in India – which has its own downs – but the result, effect of my work is great to watch. It is literally a mad run back there – due to the self-propulsion, self-desire and self-motivation to lead an extremely active life. It might have helped me directly to reach the U.S. and indirectly must have helped a lot of other people. Since, hard work with discipline gives compounding results over time. When you are working on a mission on a war-footing, you need to work like a soldier. A common man on a mission should propel the leaders and leaders should propel the country. This is how the population of a nation will be helped and gets covered, benefitted. This is how to work for the nation’s poor.

           Just for instance, the leader of present government in Andhra Pradesh has worked extremely hard, extremely active and came to power by defeating a giant of a person, the previous Chief Minister, who himself is working 18 hours a day for 5 years and on top of his game to re-define the map of A.P. But the present C.M has emerged, who worked with single-minded ambition and desire for over 8 years to become Chief Minister of A.P. The giant is defeated in the huge, heated battle in 2019 and a new, young giant-killer has emerged. This mission has redefined the landscape of the state and diverted its direction. When two hard-working giants collide, the people beneath are the benefactors. The win is historic and the governance has helped many to receive DBT, welfare. The self-driven mission liberated an old politician, continued the welfare of the state and helped crores of people in their lives.

            A mission from a common man, any person, when it is needed the most, will divert the direction of the world for better. This is the mission which Swami Vivekananda took in the nineteenth century, which inspired Mahatma Gandhi and countless others that has changed the course of India in the Twentieth Century - I will come to this in a later post. This struggle from learned men should uplift the common man of the country and world. This is not just extreme activity but self-sacrifice, heroic efforts made for the benefit of people. The cycle of time will rotate, new cycle of heroes will be born, new cycle of missions will roll on with new cycle of activities based on the need of the times and these wheels will rotate the nations, world.

          This reduction in my activity is one change which can be felt, acknowledged and identified after the change in location. For good or bad, I will try to adhere to the high standards in this country as well, if not for some demons descending upon me and putting me helpless. These demons, evil spirits, contracting forces rule the roost here like covid-19 and you never know what the air is like from these invisible pollutants. You don’t know when they will hold you or release you. This is the difference you feel after coming from a country rendering help to a country seeking help.

         And one fun thing, these people think they are helping me. But seriously, after all these years of work, am I a liability? am I really receiving help as they project it to be. Isn’t it the other way round? I can be humble but not to the extent of telling a lie. If they are calling me now a help-seeking beggar, what will be my situation, if it deteriorates and I can’t work as much as now. People will be walking all over me at that time. These are such people in this country and you can’t help but be amused by their ways. America is a serious country and a leader of the world but my presence has turned them into jokers all around. Some of their leaders resemble it, the business tycoons resemble it and the voices of people also feel the same. I don’t know how I could generate so much mockery all around and make them laughing stock. This view is just one of the shades of large spectrum and no offense meant.

        Coming back to the others among the 50 shades of gray,  I would like to go back to the time of intense activity back home in the last many months before my arrival in the U.S. Why did I choose the U.S. to move away from my home among 200 odd countries? Why is this affinity? I wanted to be detached but couldn’t. The reason is - I don’t have multiple choice options and the U.S. is my single option available. I tried for a Canada visa, checked for Australia 3 years back but didn’t have the visa or the finances to move. So, a poor person like me has no other option than this great country to prolong my sustenance. Coming here with a job is a miracle. The three earlier failures helped me and the great country helped me this long and I, in turn helped my native country.

         I still remember how I got into a U.S. project 3 years back and how I feel out-of-place among a great bunch of co-workers. I feel completely different to be among awesome people since I keep with myself. If you keep with yourself, you will be most certainly not in a U.S. project. But destiny had different plans, since I not only worked offshore but also came to onsite. I would like to thank the government in the U.S. at that time, the people in the U.S. and every other factor which helped a poor person hop on the U.S. bus for so long. Honestly, I don’t get support or help from any other country (including my native country) to scale up this much and be myself. That is the greatness of this nation, government for everyone to see. Acknowledge it to be a true leader and I am a living testimony. The writing is on the wall that I will come to the U.S. and it is pure destiny to receive help from them after ground-breaking failures. A thought crossed back then - how much love I will receive if I land in the U.S. and I couldn’t detach myself from this as it came true.

         To touch the other shade, let me also go back to the times of intense activity back home. I was struggling at that time due to my position and could hardly see any bright days ahead. I was stuck in difficult times and was not in a position to force myself out. I am not in the frame of mind to take a role in the U.S. as well. But I mustered some strength in the form of attitude from a low lying state to push everyone for entering U.S. With the same attitude, I reached out to many people through mails requesting for U.S. opportunity. It might seem like exaggerating my difficulties, but it is a difficult choice born out of the attitude to come to U.S. I am not even feeling good about my situation after boarding the plane, but I just forced my way with some good attitude. This attitude to circumvent the problems, failures is the main reason and a source of mental strength which helped me relocate to foreign nation.

         While this is an example of attitude to overcome problems, what is wrong with the attitude of people of U.S. The issue is with gun violence and the attitude of shooters. This is a bad shade to look at, which needs to be changed. These shooters are the people of this very culture and it is the problem with the prevalent attitude. There are two meanings for the word attitude – one formal and another informal. The informal means “truculent or uncooperative behavior; a resentful or antagonistic manner.” This usage is local to North America since it is very much prevalent here. Why is this attitude being bred in the people of this country? Why does the person who conjures up so much attitude go on a killing spree? Why is this epidemic problem of attitude fostered in the citizens in the first place? Why do the mass shootings show a channel to vent out attitude, mental problems. These shooters are not mentally ill but act as such out of attitude. This is a problem with the prevalent culture and guns are mere instruments.

         All I can tell is, the shooting in a school this Tuesday which killed 21 innocents is a huge scar, stigma on the soul of this nation. Look at the pictures of these little children and firing 200 rounds of ammunition at them is a deep rooted problem. It just stains your soul, makes you numb and hang your heads in shame. I am terribly sick at this and cannot process the sin committed. This will haunt you forever and the nation as a whole is responsible for this. If this does not shake you up, nothing else will. The future should not be ill-fated to be part of these sins and watch them unfold in a just society. This is truly a curse on the nation and shouldn’t happen in the first place. I felt terrible pain on seeing this that day and the feeling that this could happen anywhere kept me unnerved. You cannot carry the burden of this pain for the rest of your life. It’s high time to cure the root of the problem and change for the better. Let us take a pledge to act and make sure it never happens.

         This is not a one-off incident. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The statistics are horrifying to say the least. That there is a governing association overlooking the firearms and donates millions to a political party is an open horror crime committed legally. America has more guns than any other nation in the world – and that number continues to grow each year. After fighting for their independence, the founding fathers enshrined Americans’ right to firearms in the Second Amendment. This spirit of personal freedom and liberty has carried down through the years and is evident in America’s gun culture today. Because of this constitutionally guaranteed right, Americans own more guns per capita than any other country.

         Each day 12 children die from gun violence in America. Another 32 are shot and injured. Guns are the leading cause of death among American children and teens. 1 out of 10 gun deaths are at age 19 or younger. The U.S. has had 2,032 school shootings since 1970 and these numbers are increasing. Alarmingly, 948 school shootings have taken place since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. An estimated 4.6 million American children live in a home where at least one gun is kept loaded and unlocked. 

         32% of Americans or 81.4 million own guns. There are estimated to be over 400 million guns in the United States between police, the military, and American civilians. Over 393 Million (Over 98%) of those guns are in civilian hands, the equivalent of 120 firearms per 100 citizens. The average gun owning American has 5 firearms, while nearly 22% of gun owners have a single firearm. There were nearly 40 million guns purchased legally by Americans in 2020 alone according to FBI records. This was higher than any other year on record so far. 2019 was the second highest year with a little over 28 million firearms purchased. These numbers are lower than actual numbers.

         When you purchase 40 million firearms within a year or 1.1 lakh firearms in a day, there is little surprise these incidents happen. This is astonishing, unexpected, derogatory and completely in bad taste. That’s why you see an increase in homicides through guns, nearly 80% of them. This is increasing in recent decades and there is a need to curtail it before it goes further. When you give complete liberty with no fear for anyone, this will be the outcome and the trend will continue to grow unless checked. Otherwise, how come a 18 year old purchase assault rifles with over 1600 rounds of ammunition and kill school children. There is fear for none leave alone morals. Liberty is not a gift to do whatever you like. There are limits to liberty, limits to freedom and fear for wrongdoing. The constitution needs to be re-written by the law-makers to impose better conduct and get the priorities right.

         After looking at the violence, gun facts in the U.S., I cannot speak on the increasing Russia-Ukraine war crisis. They are going unabated in their own way. But the Americans are loading for a bigger use of the firearms against one another by purchasing them like candies in a convenience store. I don’t know, I am living among these millions of already purchased firecrackers. I could have stayed back home rather than be among these firecrackers. Please have mercy, diffuse and pledge never to use them. I hope the firearms are never produced again in this country, like candies in a factory; the firearms are never used against innocent civilians; like war-crimes in a strife-ridden country; and mass-shootings never take place to tarnish the soul of the nation.