My Own Rhetoric: Is Gun Control Really the Problem?

Image from thecultureconcept.com

There's an oxymoron for ya, gun control. The very idea that any government, law, law enforcement, etc. can "control" people with guns intent on doing harm to themselves or others is to my mind quite ludicrous. Does the world have a gun problem? Without a doubt and there's proof of it every day with news reports from all over that confirm yet another act of gun violence somewhere (...and plenty of things that do not get reported).  Unfortunately, that cat is out of the bag and nothing can be done to undo that part. Even if by some stroke of magic we could take away all of the "bad" guns, sooner or later they would show back up in the hands of anyone who was really motivated to have one. Guns and gun violence are not THE problem, however. To find the roots, one must dig deeper.

I believe the root of many of the world's problems lie in an utter lack of humanity. The Oxford Dictionary defines humanity as:

1. the human race; human beings collectively:
   "appalling crimes against humanity"
   synonyms: humankind · mankind · man · people · human beings ·
   [more]
2. humaneness; benevolence:
   "he praised them for their standards of humanity, care, and dignity"
   synonyms: compassion · brotherly love · fraternity · fellow feeling ·
   philanthropy · humaneness · kindness · consideration · understanding · sympathy · tolerance · leniency · mercy · mercifulness · clemency · pity · tenderness · benevolence · charity · goodness · magnanimity · generosity
3. (humanities)
   learning or literature concerned with human culture, especially literature, history, art, music, and philosophy

 
It's that second definition that seems to be sorely absent in today's world. Instead of mankind displaying its humaneness, we are immersed in greed, hate, blame, lack of ownership and responsibility, disparity among nations, peoples, etc., corruption and lies at nearly every level, and almost zero justice or accountability across the board. To put a fine point on it, what we have is a big mess that manifests itself in many ways. The year 2015 is coming to a close and still we have many around the world living in squalor. We still have many here in the United States and around the world without access to clean water, a roof over their heads, enough food to eat or clothes to wear. It's nearly 2016 and we still cannot get along, celebrate our differences, or find a way to live on this little blue planet together in some semblance of harmony. How is that even possible?

With all of our technological advances, our giant leaps of growth in science, and our abilities to do amazing things, you'd think by now we'd be able to do the most simple of things...get along. Being a decent human being is not rocket science. In fact, it's just about the most simple thing we, as humans, can do. Don't believe me? Watch small children at play. They don't care what color skin each of them has, or what religion their parents practice, or don't. Is politics more complicated than this? Sure. It is, however, made much more simple when put to the litmus test of "...do the loving thing". Do the loving thing for our earth...Do the loving thing for its people. And find a way to make "this" (whatever this is) WORK! We have a world full of children counting on us to get "it" right. That, to me, is some damn fine motivation for getting our shit together and leaving this world better for the generations to come.