Roseburg, Oreson: President Obama

If you would have asked me 3 days ago if I was going to suddenly be in Roseburg, Oregon entangled in President Obama's motorcade security I would have said that you were out of your mind...but suddenly there I was...  I had 4 hours notice before making the trek north.  For those of you just tuning in (like I actually have any readers) Roseburg, Oregon is the latest horror scene of kids with guns committing mass murder at a school. 

Once there with traffic halted and all off/on exits to I-5 blocked with Oregon State police, I had plenty of time to observe the populace along with the protesters and to sit still to *really* take in the energy of the area and what was going on around me.  This is what came across to me.  I can't say that I'm right or wrong, but it's what I felt for whatever that's worth.  Here goes. 

Our knee-jerk reaction is to blame guns.  Of course, that's the obvious place fingers are pointed.  I can't entirely dismiss the argument against gun control.   Everybody is screaming for background checks prior to buying a gun.  Really?  We are all nuts.  Where do we draw the line? 

I think the root of the problem runs deeper than the surface level gun control argument.  Upon entering the areal of Roseburg, Oregon I noticed the proliferation of "Jesus Saves" billboards along with other overly preachy and self-righteous billboards masquarading as being Christian when it smacked of intense dogma.  God (or Jesus if you will) save you if you did not take in their doctrine hook, line, and sinker.  How dare anybody question anything?  It's in the BIBLE.  We will BEAT this belief system into you whether you LIKE IT OR NOT.  Next to the Jesus billboard and the church was the truck stop with the big, neon lights advertising the ADULT SHOPPE and the meth-head on the corner screaming at cars passing by.  Yeah... something is just a bit off kilter, here. 

Where was a young person to go when he questioned what was being fed his belief system?  Where was any room for diversity?  Why do you think the young gunman asked if the student was a Christian prior to gunning them down?  Does anybody else out there sense what's really going on when you peel away the layers of the onion?  What if you did not quite fit into the box that Roseburg, Oregon prescribed to you?  What if those who where up on their preachy Christian pedestal were molesting kids at Sunday School and running a kiddie porn ring? 

Stranger things have happened.  Just ask Jared the pedophile Subway spokesperson.  Weird shit happens everywhere.  All the time.  The shooting was just the tip of the iceberg.  There is so much sub verged.  It's so easy and simple to blame the surface issue of guns.  Yes, guns are a problem.  I'm not saying that it's not.  There is just so much more to this. 

Here we go again...  Pumped Up Kicks