335. Type, and they will come.

I would write, "I can't believe it's been 3 days since I posted last," but that would be disingenuous. I know all too well how long it's been.

I just don't have anything to say. I do, but I'm just not ready to say it. Don't I sound mysterious? I'm not, really. Just in a contemplative mood, that's all.

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Well, that's odd. Now that I'm sitting here, I do have something to share.

The crime in Oakland has gotten really bad.

Two of my dearest friends got robbed at gun-point just a couple of days before my move. They are fine, but understandably rattled. I am getting teary eyed just thinking about it.

Monday night, the second robbery, that ended in murder, happened in my neighborhood shopping district within a very short time span. (I'm sorry, I don't want to look up the specifics. I don't want to read about it.)

I'm not worried about myself. My philosophy is such that I refuse to live in fear. If it happens that I get mugged, raped, harmed, so be it. I trust that I will heal from whatever comes my way. (I don't put myself in dangerous situations, and I am diligently aware of people and my surroundings. I don't want to get hurt or killed if I can help it!) If I get murdered, well then, it wouldn't really matter, because I'll be dead. Among other things, I'm too curious to know what happens at death (if anything) to be afraid of it. I also trust that while my death will not be a pleasant experience for my loved ones and friends, I trust that they too will heal. Life does go on.

With all that said, I am deeply saddened and also angered by the recent events. First, and obviously, for the families who are dealing with the aftermath. (I don't need to expand on this point, do I?)

My mind also drifts toward the men who committed these crimes. Please understand that I hold them completely responsible for their despicable, horrible, unimaginable crimes, and I think they owe society and their victims a debt they can't possibly ever repay.

There are also the nameless victims. These men have families, and most likely, children. I'm sure their lives haven't been a bucket of roses, but what will continue to become of them?

What kind of society and culture supports and breeds this kind of violence?

Why is it that we are the richest nation in the world and we have the highest murder rate? Why is it that we are a nation of seemingly endless resources, opportunities, wealth, and we have families living in extreme poverty?

Why is it that the richest nation in the world is also the most hardened? Why do we expect the ones who are least capable to just "pull themselves up" out of the world they are saturated in on a daily depressing basis?

It's like telling a man who is stranded and has been living on a desert island his whole life to explain and describe the Amazon rainforest in a 500 word, single spaced, typed essay, and have it due in 2 weeks.

I'm all out of words again, but the sun is up.

Wow. It's a beautiful morning! I'm going for a walk!

Hey, guys: Please be safe out there. I'd be really sad if anything happened to you.