A Dark Night Rises

Where’s Batman when you really need him? The shooting at The Dark Knight Rises premiere in Aurora, Colorado was a reminder that those types of heroes don’t really exist. I wish they did. They buck the system; come in to save the day by doing what is right and what is necessary. Batman would’ve come in, dodged the raining bullets, punched the shooter in the mouth a few times, broke an arm, and then tied him up for the police. Problem solved. Sometimes I wonder what I’d do in that situation. Part of me envisions myself dodging the raining bullets, subduing the maniac, and saving the day. Don’t know if it would go that way since most everyone is bigger than me, and I haven’t been in a physical altercation since high school when I punched my little brother in the mug for breaking my silver neck chain. In reality, I think I’d hit the ground, cover my loved ones as best I could, and start praying. Think about it. This crazy person planned it out enough to wear a gas mask, wear a bulletproof vest, and use an automatic weapon. What could someone trying to save the day do? There just isn’t much you could do. But my mind quickly drifts to society. This stuff nearly happens on a daily basis now. Living outside Detroit, you hear of all kinds of things that happen at movie theatres, gas stations, in people’s homes, and even at churches. I mean, even pastors are being attacked Pardon the pun, but in America, a dark night rises. And it’s been rising for a long time. The natural reaction is to fix the rising problem. In America, that means we treat the symptoms instead of finding a cure. So in this case, government officials will start talking gun control. We’ll start to see security/police in every movie theatre. Some theatres are already banning all masks and costumes for movies. We’ll install metal detection devices at the doors of every public building. It’s probably happening as we speak. We’ll become a police state. They’ll say due to the changes and protection that we’ll be free, but freedom will be long gone. Heck, society is long gone already. I know how to fix this. It’s not hard. It’s not expensive. And it’s controversial because of it. We just have to shift how we think. Almost like going back in time. Find religion. Find God. Put the 10 Commandments back on the wall of our schools. Allow prayer back in our schools and public places. (I can guarantee most of those people in the movie theatre last night were praying as this tragedy was unfolding.) Get back to church more than twice a year. Choose loyalty, honesty and integrity over money, wealth and status. Already some readers are saying you can’t do this. You don’t have to look at the 10 Commandments if you don’t want to. You don’t have to pray if you want to. Others will inevitably say the following: Separation of Church and State…. Bunk. Things started to get away from us in 1948 and in the 1960’s when our Supreme Court ruled against school prayer. In the 80’s we started taking the 10 commandments off the walls of schools and public buildings. All in the name of a phrase that doesn’t exist in the Constitution. In fact, in a 1958 New York Supreme Court case, a dissenting judge said the following, ““If the court does not stop talking about the separation of church and state, people are going to start thinking it is part of the Constitution.” A noted psychologist, Dr. William James, often referred to the father of Modern Psychology, said "There is nothing so absurd but if you repeat it often enough people will believe it." Better yet, the notorious Adolf Hitler said “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” He also said, “All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.” It’s been said it takes one to three generations to effect social change. We’re about 3 generations from those days and well, look where we are. It didn’t take long to shift our way of thinking. And now, much of what we see today is the result of that thinking. We see a culture with no conscience. We see a culture which now lacks respect for women, children, and the elderly. The only respect that seems to matter to people now is the respect that they demand selfishly. How can America live for so long by holding a fear of God and then go the complete opposite direction expecting to do better? We became the greatest nation on the face of the earth because of freedoms that allowed us to have a reverence of God, respect for each other and our nation. To use a Dark Knight quote, “The night is always the darkest before the dawn.” I pray we’re at our darkest moment, and that a new day is dawning. It’s been a dark night long enough.