I saw that a 'disgruntled' man killed 11 people in Virginia Beach. That word bothers the hell out of me. He was disgruntled, which means he was unhappy. He was fed-up with the way things were going at his job. So, instead of getting another job he got a gun. He didn't specifically target those who had made him unhappy, he shot randomly. One of his victims was in a car outside the municipal building. Now eleven families have been traumatized, their grief is palpable, because he was angry... and he had a gun... with a lot of ammunition. First off, he should not have had access to a weapon. This mental instability of his did not just appear out of no where. Gun laws are much stricter in France. You need to pass a psychological test before being issued a gun permit. In the United States, however, we have sanctified the Holy Gun. Secondly, where the hell were this man's supervisors and his co-workers? Disgruntled people don't hide the fact that they're angry. They don't bake cookies and take them into work one day, and the next go in and shoot people. People don't just snap. There are always signs. When you see them in a co-worker, you need to bring it to someone's attention. This means you need to care about the mental state of people you work with because if you don't, instead of packing lunch some morning they might pack a gun. This doesn't mean you need to like them, but you do need to care about their emotional stability because your life might be at risk if you don't.
Now for something different. The honeysuckle is exploding all over my back fence... unfortunately I have not been able to take pictures yet... be patient.
And since the next book is going to take place in the ghost towns of the Colorado Rockies, I thought I'd toss this out on this Sunday morning. Here's a little palate cleanser.
Can anyone guess which one of my characters is going to end up buying a pair of chaps?
