Back To Reality

As it goes every year, Christmas is now over and we're back to the real world. In fact, somehow, the real world found its way into the midst of the celebration. By real world, I mean the usual nonsensical violence that permeates our society.

By now, we have all heard the story of the Santa gunman/arsonist in SoCal and if that isn't enough, we have this story:

A South Philadelphia man enraged because a father and son were talking during a Christmas showing of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button took care of the situation when he pulled a .380-caliber gun and shot the father, police said.

The article goes on to say that after the shooting, the gunman sat back down and continued watching the movie.

Then, there's this event that occurred in the days leading up to the Christmas holiday:

A 7-year-old Phoenix boy has died of injuries he suffered when he and his 10-year-old were severely beaten Tuesday afternoon in a city park, The Associated Press says.

But that's not all. Another fine display of Christmas ill-will can be found here:

Daisy Brown and her family gathered for Christmas, but the mood was hardly celebratory.

The 18-year-old, along with her mom, her 1-year-old baby and her boyfriend's father, gathered to offer one another comfort as they mourned the deaths of two family members and the arrest of another within a three-day span.

On Monday, Brown's boyfriend, 18-year-old Broque Lumbreras, died at Methodist Hospital after being shot early Sunday.

As the family confronted that tragedy, Lumbreras' great-grandmother and a family matriarch, Marian Cobb, was fatally stabbed early Wednesday in her Near-Northside home. Cobb's great-grandson Bryan Torrence, a friend and cousin of Lumbreras' who had been staying with Cobb for a few weeks, was arrested in connection with the stabbing.

I suppose I can comb the newspapers across the country and find snippets like these in almost every part of the country. These are particularly tragic stories, because they all happened during a time when "peace on earth and goodwill towards men" were supposed to be the themes of the day.

There are some people in this world that believe there is no good or evil, only misunderstandings. But, I am not one of them.

There is an element that only seeks to do harm to people. They are a selfish, brazen, and purely anti-social element that have seared their consciences and thoroughly deadened their nerve endings. They have allowed themselves to be consumed with getting their way, by any means possible, and they will stop at nothing to get it. Their thinking is twisted and they have no shame about much of anything.

To think that a man would dream up such a diabolical plot to invade a family holiday gathering and shoot any and everyone in the way is all the proof I need. To know that a man would stab his great-grandmother, while the family is grieving over the loss of another family member, is unconscionable. These two examples and the others are more than enough to convince me.

No folks, I didn't need these instances. I have seen far too many other examples in my days on this earth.