Compassion > Regulation

It will come as no surprise that I am disgusted by the actions and statements of those advocating for gun control who exploited the death of two of our fellow citizens on television.  However, I find some commonalities in that story and the upcoming 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

I believe that the uncontrollable storm of Hurricane Katrina was exacerbated by New Orleans and coastal Louisiana ignoring their social issues for decades.  Common phrases like this is the bayou, what happens in New Orleans stays in New Orleans and redneck way of life masked the drug epidemic, the lack of family institutions and the endangered mentality of community belonging. They ignored their social issues and Hurricane Katrina killed many members of that community.

Fast forward to all of the recent gun shootings.  There were tons of signs - albeit hindsight is 20/20 - and communities ignored the signs or more than likely, were scared of reacting to signs.  If I approach a person with mental issues, I may be accused of being close-minded, racist, sexist or any number of other derogatory terms.  So instead, we do nothing and before we know it, people are killed.

We should open our eyes and set free our hearts to help our fellow citizens.  Let us not rely on government, government programs and selfish politicians to solve and help our communities.  The power is ours, the responsibility is ours.