A Man, A Gun and A Shattered Peace

On End Apathy's MySpace page, band members call their music, “a sad commentary on our sick society and the problems that prevent true progress.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/06/sikh-temple-shooter-soundtrack-hate/#ixzz22nBv3ZRs


One of the many things preventing "true progress" is respect for each other. I could go through the usual litany but what is the point? Someone like Wade Michael Page, hate musician and murderer of six in Wisconsin, is going to be unmoved by any appeal to better angels. Frankly, individuals of his ilk have none.

What about the rest of us?



Spend an hour on any social media or partisan advocacy site, and read the personal attacks, the us-against-them political drum-beating and "________ are stupid, selfish and are destroying America." That is, try to get through the whole hour. We slash at each other as though all of us inhabit parapets reinforced against opposing enemy.

In fact, except for the few outliers like Page, we are all much the same at heart. We want to live productive lives doing the things that matter, enjoy good health and leave something of a legacy. Watch the Olympics - the most obvious attribute is difference. There are so many different colors, sizes, costumes. One thing is the same, though. When their national anthem is played, the gold medal around their neck - what color are the athletes' tears? How about the tears of the parents in the neonatal ICU commercial?

Be it Colorado or Wisconsin, what color are the tears of the loved ones, the survivors, the victims?

True progress isn't in lyrics that identify people who are different as "enemy." True progress starts by identifying people who are different as "human."