Friends, I weep as I write this entry. Yesterday, a 67 year-old man shot and killed seven people in Half Moon Bay. One massacre at a plant nursery. Another in a different agricultural spot near the coast. His victims were farm workers.
Children witnessed some of the killings. (New York Times article here)
The shooter’s name is Zhao Chunli. He lived in the area, according to the New York Times.
Why would a 66 year-old man gun down people who work with plants? In front of children?
What is wrong with our society when our senior citizens feel so desperate that the only way to express themselves is to take the lives of others?
I know, I know. “Mental health problems,” you say. That’s clear. But it’s not right that someone so internally wounded would feel it’s okay to violate others. Slaughtering people does not solve the problem. I don’t know enough about this person — Mr. Zhao Chunli — to know why he did what he did. What pushed him to this breaking point?
Among the people who knew Mr. Chunli, who observed that he might be not okay?
I’m not saying that we are 100% responsible for the actions of others. If that were the case, we’d all be screwed. But to what extent am I responsible for creating and/or participating in systems that provide pleasure to some at the expense of others?
As the investigation continues, I imagine we’ll find out more details–what was Mr. Chunli’s life like? What were his weaknesses? What was his breaking point? Could anyone have dome something to intervene?
As naive at it might sound, I really believe that we all need positive, supportive, community. Life is hard. People can be cruel jerks. Money can rob us of our humanity, and God knows how Mr. Dollar reigns supreme here in the Bay Area. I can’t change the entire social system.
However, I do have control over how I interact with people. I can attempt to make interactions pleasurable, tolerable, or painful for those around me. If I willingly inflict pain onto others, that’s going to cause suffering. If I observe that someone is suffering, I have to ask myself what can I do to ease that pain. That might mean asking if they are okay, and listening.
I’m not responsible for how another person feels or how they choose to act, but clearly there’s something wrong if murder is seen as an acceptable solution.
So, it becomes our collective problem when people — youth, senior citizens, men/women/humans in their prime — carry great internal pain. Because people who are suffering will hurt others if they do not have a healthy way to deal with their pain. If we, as a society, reward material success, violence, and performance in certain professions more than we value healthy communication, respect for all people and professions, and well-being, then some people are going to suffer. Greatly.
What happens when a person believes they are so isolated that they want a release at any cost?
And we wonder why a shooting occurs.
If you are rolling your eyes, perhaps that is a sign that we as a society have too little regard for human life.
“Second Amendment Rights,” you say. That, my friend, is pure Bullshit. True, the article does give the right “to keep and bear arms”. However, I find it impossible to believe that the Founding Fathers had the Right to Slaughter Innocent People Just Because of Personal Grievances in mind when drafting the Second Amendment.
One person, acting alone, is not a “well regulated militia.” One person, acting alone, is not “necessary to the security of a free state.”
One person, acting alone, created terror. Caused unimaginable pain. Brought destruction and evil into this peaceful community.
When our collective safety is jeopardized by gun violence, we have a problem. We’ve created this problem and we need to fix it.
I am also weeping because Half Moon Bay is special to me. This sweet valley provided peace. I hike along the Coastal Trail, meditate on the beach. HMB is where I restore my soul. Or have an adventure. My husband and I searched for sea stars and sea anemones at Fitzgerald Marine Preserve while families harvested mussels at low tide. Children splashed in the gentle waves. Home to steelhead trout and unseen choruses of frigs, Pilarcitos Creek brings fresh water to the salted. The coastal mountains meet the sea. To me, the landscape is a mixture of wonder and awe. Sacred.
We brought my mother to HMB on December 24. At age 80, she tottered along the bluffs, receiving the ocean spray’s baptism.
I am crying because of how this shooting is going to impact the people. One of child’s favorite teachers lives in HMB. The surfers who brave the waves at Maverick’s (yes, THAT surf spot). The folks who believed in their craft beer enough to launch the HMB Brewery, and the book shop, and the massage therapists, and the fish monger, and the artists along Main Street. The farms. The farm workers. The people who grow our pumpkins, our succulents, our strawberries and more.
How can a person feel safe when someone in your own community turns a gun on you?
You don’t.
How did we, as a society, let this happen?
If we don’t say ENOUGH! and get serious about no more guns except in certain, specific, and heavily regulated situations, we are going to lose our freedom. With this shooting, we have lost some freedom already.
I grieve for Half Moon Bay. For Zhao Chunli. For the people whose lives were cut short. For their families. The community. I grieve for children and adults who experience life thinking that feeling terror is normal.
Because it’s not.