Oh, World!

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Good gravy! I’ve worried about possibilities of an active shooter entering a busy store where I’m employed or where I’m shopping. In these days of holiday rushing, active shooters seem more common. I’m ordering more from online to avoid busy shops.

Early today, an active shooter in a Virginia Walmart murdered six. He was an employee! I’ve not imagined a shooter as being employed inside his target venue. Despite my experience as an employee in busy retail settings.

We employees often articulate a shared perspective of preferring to avoid a coworker because that person’s an “odd bird” or a “weird one.” Usually, an odd one departs for unexplained reasons.

We have learned that a weird employee, after leaving a workplace, may return as an active shooter. An early series of such murders, because of where they occurred, earned the label, “going postal.”

Maybe “going postal” encouraged us to not work for the Postal Service. We’d visit Post Offices anyway, for stamps and to mail packages.

Over time and increasingly, we grew more aware of actual and attempted public murders: The Kennedys, King, Lennon, and Regan, to mention some. After the Columbine shooting, there began a spreading of active shooters and mass murders, in schools, churches, and marketplaces.

Despite any concerns about entering public places, the odds more than not are in our favor. We might equate them to the safety or not of driving or riding in a car, crossing a street, riding a bicycle, or just walking the dog. We’re aware of the pros and cons and participate in those activities routinely.

We’re learning in a world now populated by 8 billion residents. Surprise after surprise begins generating fewer surprises.

Dear Friends: Wishing for us all, to find genuine moments of quiet, peace, and joy. Diana