Tectonic Transition and Soul Cleansing of U.S.

We are in a moment of defining our soul of the nation. We should seriously pursue the states of soul searching, soul cleansing and soul defining bringing about a tectonic shift behind unifying the nation along these lines. Violence – both internally and externally is a biggest blot on the soul of the nation. Every citizen owning a gun and using them to kill everyone else including Presidents is a biggest blot and a stain on the nation. This has to be urgently purged to recreate a more peaceful image of the nation. Soul cleansing can be defined as the process of examining and healing one's inner self, as well as the broader societal psyche. For individuals, it can mean confronting personal biases, releasing negative emotions, and striving towards a more compassionate existence. For societies, soul cleansing helps address deep-rooted issues that impede progress, harmony and peaceful co-existence. After wading through the murky waters for centuries by holding out guns and killing each other, the deep-rooted burden of rot and stigma has to be cleaned from its roots to charter a new course for the nation. This has to be one of the soul cleansing and soul defining trajectories which the nation has to undergo in its moments of unifying through greater underlying softer forces operating underneath the carpet. 

Leaving about innumerable others, let us look at the unfortunate incidents etched in our memory from recent past which tells about the societal violence which young students are studying as high school syllabus and putting them into practice. In the same month of July, on July 4th 2022, during an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Chicago, a 21 year old youngster, Robert Eugene Crimo III began shooting at the parade for about 15 minutes from a rooftop using a semi-automatic rifle. Seven people were killed, and 48 others were injured by bullets or shrapnel. Crimo, just 21 years old, planned the attack for several weeks and fired more than 70 shots from a rooftop during the parade. He used a legally purchased AR-15-style rifle. Cut back to few months earlier to May 24, 2022. The shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, entered the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX after shooting his grandmother at their home. He then proceeded to the elementary school where he fatally shot 19 young kids and 2 teachers. In addition to the fatalities, 17 others were injured. The shooter, an 18-year-old youngster, was a resident of the same city and used an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun. What have we learned, implemented and put into practice from this soul-stirring incidents involving young kids, parade-goers and more importantly young students taking the role as shooters? Seems nothing. Move forward a couple of years to July 13 of 2024. This time an altogether ex-president was shot and wounded on his right ear by Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Pennsylvania, who fired eight rounds with an AR-15–style rifle from the rooftop of a building located approximately 400 feet (120 meters) from the stage. Crooks killed 1 audience member and critically injured two others. He was subsequently shot and killed by the counter-sniper team. The entire shooting saga seems like a magical escape for the MVP by a wafer-thin margin. The problem unchecked has reached the level of roof topping in front of an ex-President. If this is not the time to check this pandemic then we don’t know when. These are not isolated incidents and we can move 12 years back to 2012. A 20-year-old shooter killed 26 people, including 20 children aged 6 and 7, in Sandy Hook Elementary School. Once again young kid killing many other kids. In 2021, a shooter as young as 15-year-old opened fire and killed 4 other students in Michigan. These incidents highlight the urgent need for measures to prevent young individuals from accessing firearms and to address the underlying issues that lead to such tragedies.  

Once again, what is done since these last 12 years in terms of access to these fire arms to young kids and other individual threats. Absolutely nothing. Why are these youngsters cultivating the urge to kill and why are the adults adding fuel to fire by giving passage to weapon-possession. Why is the culture among these 20 somethings so rotten to take sniper shots at fellow citizens and Presidents. Can’t we educate our future generation to be harbingers of peace instead of putting acts of violence into practice. If the future is in wrong path, there is little hope for better tomorrow. The time to purge has now come after escalating to this horrific level. The time for peaceful co-existence has now come. If you don’t learn from mistakes, you don’t lead a good life subsequently. You cannot repent over the fallen bodies until you remove the weapon from the bad actors. You cannot let the mistakes repeat in cyclic succession without treating the root of the problem. You need to cleanse the soul of the nation’s identity by untagging the voilent shots shot by youngsters and the brutal wounds received by many other young kids. There is no just nation in this world which can survive without putting the young kids in safe space. 

The DNA or soul of the nation is exhibited by its future generation. The DNA is put into display by the future generation which is an extrapolation of culture passed over from earlier generations. This connotes the mutilated soul and deeply ingrained problem within the roots of the society which is just a tip of the iceberg. Even if it is tip of iceberg this is extremely condemned and highly derided outcome one can have in a safe society involving gullible, smart, young kids. What produced this tip is the mammoth iceberg beneath. Statistics reveal that gun ownership in the U.S. is among the highest in the world, with over 466 million guns owned by civilians—exceeding the nation’s population where the vast majority are in civilian hands. I still remember, I saw news that there are over 100 people shot during July 4th weekend in Chicago, resulting in 19 fatalities, couple of weeks back. This is in the back of my mind as I travelled through the city on a weekday and there is visible apprehension on most faces as what happens next. How can the ordinary people live regularly with a peace of mind in the middle of this violent environment. How can I be let it pass as normal without amazed, astonished and overwhelmed by the culture of shooting 100s in few days. This is the violent tradition on most weekends. If this is behind the making of places of tomorrow, don’t make it. The availability and cultural acceptance of firearms have catalyzed a thriving environment for gun-related violence, culminating in mass shootings and senseless tragedies spread all over.  

To talk and think about the mammoth iceberg, I would be highly amazed and fall unconscious. In the past ten years, there are as many as 370,000 shootings in this great country. 3.7 lakh shootings in 3650 days translates to 100 shootings a day on an average across the nation. Chicago has recorded more than 24,000 shootings in the past nine years. This is an unknown, internal, domestic war which is in progress in this country. Even if we leave the one-off incidents, there are over 650 mass shootings each year for the last 4 years and 307 in this year alone in its half way mark. What more, these mass shootings make up just 1% of the total shootings. There are around 20 thousand deaths and 40 thousand injuries which are gun related each year over the last four years as well. It is disturbing to talk it straight but welcome to the land of United States of Shooting. The country should be barred from participating in Olympics for winning this mega Olympic medal. U.S. tops the world by huge margin in all these above categories or stats and this makes this country. India may have 5 Olympic medals and 120 in U.S. but it also has 5.3 firearms for 100 people and not 120 per 100 people as in U.S. 

To cleanse the internal violence within the U.S., comprehensive measures need to be enforced. One possible strategy is the implementation of rigorous gun control laws, akin to those present in countries with lower rates of gun violence, such as Australia. Implement a carpet ban on firearm possession – as simple as that. You cannot ban NRA; NRA should ban itself – bring the reform unto self. Give up firearms voluntarily or by force and cleanse yourself. At least, you don’t need AR-15 style guns when you don’t perceive a fellow citizen as enemy. We see in Telugu movies when a region known for faction killings strives to walk Gandhian path, every one gives up or drops big knives to move away from violence. In the same way, everyone in this country need to drop their AR-15s, to begin community disarmament and make a step towards peace. Else, the peaceful movement which is ongoing in this nation has no meaning. We are striving towards soul defining and soul cleansing where there is a larger reflection of a state, we would like to be in. The present state lives in complete opposition, complete contradiction and complete disrespect to this definition. This state needs to be mended, molded and modified for a peaceful transition and reach a peaceful destination. 

I have talked about internal violence alone and the violence perpetrated by this nation externally is similarly humongous as well. For instance, the U.S. military presence in more than 800 bases globally signals a posture of dominance rather than cooperation, causing mistrust in international relations. Reforming the approach to foreign relations necessitates a reassessment of priorities. Central to this can be the bolstering of diplomacy over military might. By investing in dialogue first, the U.S. can engage in meaningful conversations with conflict-prone regions, emphasizing peaceful conflict resolution. Strengthening international institutions, such as the United Nations, and supporting non-violent movements across nations are crucial steps in curbing violence globally. A pivotal reference point can be drawn from the Colombian Peace Process, which highlights the need for comprehensive reforms that encompass social reintegration and economic revitalization, ensuring lasting peace through internal collaboration rather than external intervention. This external provocation and violent means of attaining goals is in itself another topic for a blogpost. But to say it succinctly, violent means – internally or externally has no place in the culture of U.S., for a safer and better future. The U.S. has to disarm internally and externally in a huge scale to lay the seeds for a greater future. This is the end state for which the means has to be drastically adjusted in calibration. This is the state which is in sync with the greater spirit and unity the nation should stand for.