Opinion Piece by Trent Rosser

A few weekends ago was supposed to be special for me. That Saturday, I walked into an A.A. meeting and received my 10 year sobriety chip. 10 years is a long time and a milestone for being sober for that many years. Unfortunately, a man in Odessa put a damper on the festive thoughts. As you probably already know, a man named went on a killing spree. As of this writing, 8 were dead (including the shooter) and over 20 were injured. This hit a little too close for me. Earlier this year, I stayed at a hotel across from the Walmart where he shot some innocent civilians, and not too far from the movie theater that he was finally stopped at. This reminded me of something else that happened years ago.

I have talked about my grandparents in Rogers, Texas and how we would spend our summers there. When I was in late elementary and beginning of junior high, we had moved from Amarillo to a little town called Lampasas. We would drive every other weekend to see my grandparents. It was only about an hour drive but we always stopped at Luby's cafeteria in Killeen to eat lunch. This was the late 80's. On October 16, 1991, a man named George Hennard drove his Ford through the front plate glass window of that same Luby's, stepped out of his truck and opened fire. With 24 deaths and 27 injuries (19 by gunfire) it was the deadliest mass shooting in history, until the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007. Both of those mass shootings hit close to home for me. It doesn't matter if it was years or months later, it is still scary. Something of this magnitude not only shocks the nation, but shocks the world. My heart goes out to all families involved in this shooting as well as all others. But, what makes a person do things like this? Most of the time we will never know due to the shooter being killed or killing themselves.

One of the things that I have seen on social media quite a bit, (due to the shooting, I'm sure) is a phase that I am not quite understanding. White male privilege. Let me make something VERY clear. I am not, in no way or form, a racist. I have friends from all races and genders. I believe that our skin color does not make the person. Some of the smartest people I have known were a different skin color than me. We should not be segregating each other by the color of our skin. Yes, I agree there are "bad" people of every color, and I thought that we, as the greatest nation on earth, would have learned from our mistakes from the past. I do agree that most mass shootings are from a white man, but not all.

In January of 1979, 16 year old Brenda Spencer opened fired on Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. Killing 2 and injuring 9. Her reason is ridiculous. She was quoted as saying "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." Unfortunately, school shootings have happened since the 1800's, and mass shootings have happened since 1922. If you look up mass shootings on Wikipedia, you will find that mass shootings came from all different races. One thing is for sure, all mass shooters have been completely deranged to do this to our fellow men and women.

Some say better gun control will be the answer, but I must respectfully disagree. Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in effect. The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence has rated Chicago a B+ city. Yet, this past Labor Day weekend Chicago was filled with violence and reported multiple deaths and injuries. I will not get into a debate about gun control. I believe what we need is human control. Parents have stopped talking with their children to just have their face planted in their phones. We no longer sit at a table to eat supper and talk to each other about the day's events. Whether it be at school or at work, no one wants to listen any longer.

Maybe, just maybe, instead of talking about all the school shootings and mass shootings, put the computers away. Put the phones away and turn the T.V. off. Just sit at the dinner table and talk. Get to know your spouse again. Get to know your children and what is going on with them. Invite a neighbor over and sit and visit with them. Maybe, just lending an ear could curb the anxiety to possibly stop the next shooting. Maybe you could learn something and notify authorities to help stop a shooting. But most of all, maybe you could learn something new from your spouse, children or a new friend. Again, it doesn't matter what color you are on the outside, we all bleed red, and no one wants to see it proven with another shooting. Wake up America, it's time to come together during these dark times, not to fight each other. Remember, united we stand, divided we fall.