What was a flagpole doing in the middle of Main Street? Whose idea was this? You're telling me it didn't make sense to put it in front of the Meeting Hall or next to the Newtown Bee? How tall is this thing? Can people see it from space? And will I, while driving to Greg Smith's house or the wine vineyards for a vintage baseball game, ever crash into it?
That's what I used to think about the Newtown flagpole. It was strange. Out of place. But it had been there since 1876. It had survived major thunderstorms, fires and car accidents. So in a way, it was stubborn.
Then I saw it again on Friday afternoon in the above picture. The day that kindergartners were killed -- young children taking their fundamental first steps in life.
And I teared up. The flag that I'd passed by so many times as a kid was being lowered to half-mast. It was on the national news. Not because somebody got their tongue stuck in the morning freeze or some astronaut spotted it from space -- it was because of a horrific tragedy.
The 100-foot structure looked dramatic and striking against the dreary sky. But you know what, the flagpole still left me with stubborn feelings.
It was the stubbornness of our elected officials for not thoroughly examining our gun control laws. The stubbornness of Republicans. The stubbornness of Democrats. The stubbornness of some bill in some holy document created hundreds of years ago. It's not 1780 anymore. We're not dairy farmers with pitchforks and pistols. It's 2012 and suburban teenagers are wielding assault rifles.
Let's get this done, America. Let's discuss regulation. Korea, a place I lived a year, does not allow guns to any civilians. Just hunting rifles. Murders last year in SK: 1,251; US: 12,996. Korea's neighbor Japan (with similar gun control laws, and closer pop. numbers) had just 442. Some telling facts. Who needs 47 guns? Who needs two? One? Tell me why?
And it's also the stubbornness that we have in not dealing with our mental health system. Many families are too stubborn or scared to admit their child or father or brother has serious mental issues. They can't fathom the embarrassment or implications, so they ignore and deal with it on their own (sometimes to a fault). But let's not forget the stubbornness and ignorance of the larger societal system within our country. People who are bi-polar or suffering from other severe disorders are not given the care or proper support in our society. They're more routinely thrown in prison than admitted into a hospital. It's easier. Just clump these mentally-challenged individuals into an institution with murderers and degenerates, because they're cut from the same cloth, right? A great article that's been circling the web on this very subject is here.
And finally, the other stubbornness I felt when I saw that very same flag I'd seen so many times throughout my life, was the stubbornness of Newtown, the stubbornness of Connecticut and the stubbornness of our country. The U.S. has been through some incredible moments in recent past, from equal rights movements to 9/11 to natural disasters. But we've endured and taken appropriate courses of action. We've passed equal rights laws for women and worked toward eliminating racial discrimination. We've increased security measures and shut down numerous terrorist threats. We've held onto that American stubbornness that we are a great nation and we need to do the right thing. And this recent tragedy deserves that same attitude.
Let's discuss. Let's take action. We need to do it for ourselves, for our pride and for our future, but most importantly, we need to do it for Sandy Hook Elementary School, the families involved and for that town with the funny little flagpole in the middle of the street.
A fellow Nutmegger,
- Matt Monagan
