Hey all, hope your week is off to a great start. Mine is off to a start, but the temperature is down once again, it is raining, and tomorrow we may even have some wet snow mixed in with the rain, so I am already counting down to next weekend with the predicted warmer weather and plenty of sunshine. I have finally made a complete recovery after being so sick and it feels marvelous to be back to normal, or as normal as I ever get, that is. J

OK, so the topic of today's blog is an anniversary of sorts. Today is the tenth anniversary of the Columbine Shooting. A very sad event for us all, and one I still do not understand. It was not the first such shooting, nor was it the last, but at the time, it was one of the worst in American history. That day 12 students and one teacher were killed, 23 others were wounded, and the shooters ended the massacre by taking their own lives. Everyone involved in any way with this tragedy was forever changed, as was our entire culture to some extent. Prior to this, schools did not routinely install metal detectors, have locked doors, or have security cameras in every hallway and classroom. School was, prior to this, considered a safe place with the only danger an occasional fist fight. The only safety procedures practiced up until then were fire and tornado drills, as your fellow students were not thought of as a danger to your very survival. Now the schools have drills to teach students what to do if an armed person somehow manages to get inside. What was once considered a safe place no longer is and it doesn't stop there.

In the intervening years other mass shootings have taken place here in the States and there seems to be no end in sight. March 2001, Charles Williams, 15, killed two fellow students and wounded another 13 at a high school in California.

March 2005, Terry Ratzmann, 44, gunned down seven and wounded four at worship services in Wisconsin before taking his own life.

March 2005, Jeffery Weise, 16, killed nine starting with his grandfather and the grandfather's companion, before going to Red Lake High School in Minnesota, where he shot down five fellow students, a security guard, and a teacher. Seven other students were wounded before he took his own life.

April 2007, Seung-hui Cho, 23, killed 32 and wounded 17 before taking his own life at Virginia Tech. February 2008, Steven Kazmierczak, 27, a former student, fatally shot five students and wounded another 18 before committing suicide at Northern Illinois University.

These are just a few of the samples of mass shootings that have occurred in the years since Columbine and things seem to be escalating. Just from March 9th through April 6th of this year, 53 people were killed in seven mass shootings in the US and there are no figures available on the number of wounded. In most of these cases, the shooter ends up dead, either killed by the police or in the majority of cases, by taking their own lives. But before they take their lives, they leave in their wake nothing but grief and turmoil. Those lost all leave behind loved ones that will be changed forever and left to wonder why, with no answers ever to be found.

For those of us not directly affected by the shootings, there are no answers either, as we are left shaking our heads in disbelief. Some blame a lack of gun control and the ready availability of guns in this country, but I don't think the answer can possibly be that simple, after all, a gun without someone to pull the trigger is just so much wood and steel, a harmless inanimate object no more dangerous than a pencil or a piece of paper. Stricter gun laws will do nothing but make it harder for the hunter or collector to enjoy their hobby, while it will do nothing to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and would-be killers.

In the end, I have no conclusions, no ideas on how to stop all the senseless violence that is plaguing the country, but I do have a wish, and that is quite simple, I wish that we, as a society could get back to some sense of normality, back to a time when these killers and the mass killing of innocent people were not common place, back to a time when family was what mattered, you knew your neighbors, and you felt safe in your day-to-day life.

So, what do you think, is there a solution to this problem, and if so, what is it? later.....