Spring is trying with all her might to come to Columbus. Only about a week or so ago I saw a bush of brilliant red camellias weighted down with clumps of soft snow. The flowers” color bled through the icy whiteness, haughty and brash. Scarlet-breasted robins perch on the bare branches of a huge oak tree in front of my house. They thrust out their ruby-feathered chests and screech loudly to each other.
Soon the tree will sprout tiny buds of pale green leaves. For now, it stretches to heaven with gnarled, gray fingers and appears to be dead.
A handful of yellow crocus poke their heads from under dry, brown leaves in one corner of what once was a garden. Persephone is emerging from the underworld. She reaches, tentatively, from Hades, but I almost wonder why.
Our city is a portrait of contrasts. The blossoms are a symbol of rebirth. Yet, we recently had to face the pointless death of two men — once again. Now, it”s all over but the weeping. That will go on for a very long time.
The families involved will never be the same. Our hearts break for them.
Seasons are metaphors of mortality and resurrection. That is natural. We know that no one lives forever. Some deaths may actually be answered prayers, a gentle end at the right time. But, murder is not natural. It is in opposition to all the laws of humanity.
Does anyone really need the Ten Commandments to tell them, “Thou shalt not kill?” That is something any child can figure out. People keep killing, and for incredibly stupid reasons.
Most of us feel that we would defend ourselves and our families, if needed. The shooter in the Elbow Room tragedy claimed that he acted in self-defense. He truly felt that he was under attack. And, why not? He went into the bar unarmed. The gun was pulled on him.
I”ve said this before — what if there had been no gun?
Never mind that it is illegal to bring a gun into a bar. Shouldn”t it be common sense not to do this? It is as obvious as “thou shalt not kill.” There are rules, laws, ideas so simple that they do not need to be recorded.
I don”t want to blame the victims. Truly there is no reason to add to their survivors” suffering.
But, guns are designed to kill. They have been refined and perfected for centuries, for only one reason. They are creations of destruction.
Today guns are not just for hunters. The National Rifle Association claims that half of all American households have guns. All too often we read of the accidental shooting of a child, or by a child. This occurs more often, I believe, than a citizen successfully defending their home.
Once upon a time, the gunner”s craft was considered a black art and associated with the devil. The smell of sulfur, flash of gunpowder, smoke and thunderous explosions added to that perception.
I wish this country would embrace that concept. Guns are for the police and for serious hunters who know how to handle them safely. They are not for posturing, not for exhibition in bar rooms, not impressive accessories.
Once again, I ask — what if there had been no gun in The Elbow Room week before last? We would probably have heard of a bar fight there, but one without deaths.
This spring the flowers seem bloody. My vision is tainted by futile deaths, and by my anger at writing another version of the same column almost every year. If I were Persephone I would probably return to the cool, dark, nothingness of the underworld.
Adele Elliott, a New Orleans native, moved to Columbus after Hurricane Katrina.
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