Dear [___________], updated

I originally wrote this blog post in December 2012. I've updated some of it below.


Dear News Media, you still suck. Just because we have instant access to you doesn't mean we don't want you to check your facts and confirm information before you blab it all over the air! Go look up journalism. I'll wait.

Dear Law Enforcement officials, you're stronger than they are. Don't cave to the news media and government officials when they beg and threaten you for inaccurate crumbs to feed to the tabloid media machine. Just say no.

Dear Law Enforcement and First Responders, we love you. We're so sorry that you have to see such terrible things. We hope our love and support is enough to get you through each day. There is no one we trust more than you.

Dear [insert slimy politician here], don't tell the people that we will do everything we can so that this terrible tragedy doesn't happen again. You can't prevent them. No one can. If someone wants to harm others they will, by any means necessary. It's not pretty, but its the truth.

Dear Families affected by the tragedy in Las Vegas, we are all thinking of you. We are all sending our love and support. We are so sorry. We know it can never be enough.

Dear America, nothing is black and white. You should know that by now. It's not something we can fix by saying if we take away A then B will never happen. Life doesn't work that way.

Stop trying to place blame everywhere except where it belongs.

It's not non-religious people vs. religious people. It's not gun owners vs. non-gun owners. It's not Democrats vs. Republicans.

It's just people. We the people.

We need to care more.
We need to pay more attention to our kids.
We need to help each other.
We need to be more compassionate, kind, and empathetic.

And not just when tragedy strikes.

I'm sure my words aren't new. I'm sure my words will anger some. But, they are my words and I will stand by them.

My comfort is this, for every single [insert deviant type here] out there, who wants to harm others to try and fill whatever hole they have in their lives, there are thousands and thousands of good people doing the right thing for others every single day.

Maybe one day the news media will report those stories.