16 Candles

Our girl, our 1 & only girl, turns 16 on Monday.

This is her big birthday weekend.

She got her 'besties' together & they have spent the last 48 hours giggling & squealing & singing & squealing... did I mention squealing?

We did pizza (lots of pizza) & movies & candy & caves & petroglyphs.

I'm pretty sure they didn't sleep at all...

The best part was what she wanted for her birthday,,, a leather bound volume of the Works of Jane Austen.

Yes.

Happy birthday Baby Squirrel.

Presents and pizza.

Movie time ~ the new Cinderella is the best!

Breakfast in the trailer ~ "the Girl Cave"

Lava Beds National Monument (known locally as "the caves")

Sunshine cave just before the 'bat' incident.

Sooo pretty.

Petroglyph  Point

The great eye...

Pretty sure this one is titled "Margaritaville"...

Blessings.

What have we done?

I'm not judging anyone.

It's impossible to know how one would respond to a situation until it happens.

And fear is powerful. So it is not my intent to imply that anyone should have done anything differently or that *I* would respond any differently in the same situation.

But I don't get something.

I don't get why more people don't fight for life?

Yesterday a man filled with hate, and no regard for life, killed and injured many people at Umpqua College just a few hours from me.

He was targeting people according to their religion and if they were Christian he shot them in the head.

One by one he had them stand up.

He was 1 man in a room of many.

In several of the shooting incidents recently it has been 1 man in a room of many.

Why don't more of us fight back?

Why do wait obediently to be slaughtered?

Did we learn nothing from 9/11?

Where the sacrifice of those willing few on 1 plane saved 1000s.

Why don't we fight back?

What have we taught our children?

Have we taught them to be strong and believe?

Have we taught them that life is precious and to be protected?

Have we taught them there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your brother?

Or have we taught them that life is subjective?

Have we taught them to be unaware?

Have we taught them to fear and to doubt?

Have we taught that it is someone else's 'job' to serve and to protect and our job to wait?

I don't know.

I just don't know.

But I do know it needs to change.

There is great evil in our world and we need to teach our children to stand up against that evil.

We need to give them the ability to protect themselves and others instead of training them to sit in a dark room and wait: either to die or to be rescued.

There has to be a better option.

We must teach that life matters.

We must fight back against evil.

We need to give our children and ourselves the tools to protect and save lives.

What are those tools?

Should we all be carrying a gun? Maybe.

Should we all take self defense classes? Probably.

I wish I knew the answers.

I wish I could understand.

Unfortunately all I have is questions like the rest of you.

And a heart filled with pain and sorrow for  those families.

All of those people who have to find a new "normal" now that their world has been shattered.

All because of one man filled with hate.

We need to fight the hate.

Blessings.