Vegas Massacre: Opportunity on the wings of danger

Hi, this is Steve Barnes here with Today's Life writing live and probably one of the most serious conversations I've ever had with you guys. So I'm not even going to be on screen most of the time because this isn't about me. I think that it's about a much more important subject than me or you or any individual who's watching this. It's about our kids. And so I want you to listen carefully. This is as important a message as anything I have ever said. Okay, so here we go. Oh boy. Sorry if the technology isn't perfect. I'm still working on it. Subject of today's talk is the Vegas massacre. An opportunity if we're wise enough to see it. And I'm not at all certain that we are, but I'm speaking to those who can hear me. That's all I'm asking is that you listen. I think I may have. Well, I. I hate to say it this way, but kind of a solution to the problem. I mean, I've been thinking about this for a long time and I think that there is an opportunity here. A year ago, I woke up with an insight about possible solution to the race problem. It was a five step solution that I've discussed many times since then. Love yourself, love one other person, and the notion of nun, which is that there is one soul looking out through many eyes. Understand history without guilt, blame or shame. Support your tribe. Don't engage with sleepers or snakes and be strong enough to fight monsters and win with integrity and compassion. I've also discussed the hero's journey. Musashi especially. Do not think dishonestly. Sun Tzu, the notion that anger is fear. And where these ideas go. I've explored these, expanded them, given endless examples, and applied them to other arenas like gender, sexual orientation and politics. But I've never tried to apply them to the gun issue. Because I'm not an expert. I had to wait for an inspiration. And this morning I awakened with an inspiration. Here's a quote from sun Tzu's the Nine Situations. Chapter 11. For the Men of Wu and the men of Y are enemies. Yet if they are crossing a river in the same boat and are caught by a storm, they will come to each other's assistance. Just as the left hand helps the right. Now I ask you a question. What's more important for you to win or for your opponent to lose? I hope you realize that if you focus on your opponent losing, you could lose too. Like the scorpion that stings the frog. I ask instead that you Focus on winning and. And if at all possible, if at all possible, help your opponent to win as well. For the trick is that each of you may need to shift your definition of winning to go deeper than the surface issues to do so. On a basic level, you can start with the assumption of equality. I fight for that. Whether the subject is race, gender, or politics, I will slowly, gradually, at great cost, be hauled away from that position. I get attacked by both sides, which is fine by me because I see many who start from the assumption of inequality. They too can be moved away from that position, but painfully, gradually, at great cost, and they snap back to those early assumptions first chance they get. And yes, oppressed people, or those who consider themselves oppressed are just as likely to consider themselves superior as oppressors. Make no mistake about that. Black people do it about white people, women about men, gay about straights, atheists about the religious. This is just human stuff. Miss that. Get politicized and you might not notice when your allies slowly turn on you until they manipulate you into a heads I win, tails you lose situation, using fear or guilt to disarm and control. It's fascinating to watch, really. By the way, if you appreciate this conversation, please share. Please share. It's important. You know what's even more fun is when these people do this, they try to manipulate me. They don't even notice that I'm aware of it. It's really kind of fun to focus on. The common ground is a tactic of phenomenal import and impact, especially if you are deadlocked. If one side is stronger than the other, there is the potential to simply strike and crush. But if not, it might be time to think differently. Maybe not Judo, which, while still gentle, is still about I win, you lose. Maybe it's time to try aikido, which asks us to find common ground, that we can both win. That if I must hurt you, in a very real sense, we both lose. You lose with broken bones, of course. But my spirit has been damaged because. No, the Las Vegas shooting is a perfect example of a situation of common peril, a stormy sea which endangers both armies. If they can step back from their hatred and fear and selfishness and tribalism, they can grasp the core of the problem and find common ground. There are a few things about the gun control debate that I think all sane people can admit if they would take a deep breath. I don't think that any of these points require much more than assuming shared humanity and a little logic for the sake of simplicity. We'll say the right as second Amendment advocates and the left as gun control advocates without any pejoratives attached to either. Can we do that? Just so we can zip through this, by the way, in terms of language, I'm sorry, but I'm not calling this man a terrorist. I think there's been a corruption of language. A terrorist in my mind isn't someone who inspires terror or causes violence. It is a person who uses violence to cause terror with the intent of manipulating the minds, emotions and actions of a population. Thereby, you can also cause mass death as a saboteur. A simple urge to damage the infrastructure of your opponent. Or you might simply wish to create a tableau and have no real caring about how your victims feel about it. The victims aren't human. They have no inwardness. They are just material to paint your canvas. Of course, you may also simply enjoy predation killing for the sheer pleasure. Many of these seem to have increased joy if their victims are afraid, but without a political will, leverage that fear to create some larger effect. I still don't call it terrorism. Such people are more dangerous than terrorists, by the way. They've stepped away from their humanity. Be very, very careful of these people. They have embraced their monstrosity. Yeah, I've heard that the CIA changed the definitions. But if you don't think intelligence agencies manipulate language to control populations, you may want to pay closer attention. Anyway, as Rod Serling used to say, submitted for your approval. 1. Both left and right believe their positions enhance the chances of survival for different reasons. Yes, but that's what they believe. You don't have to agree with them, but you better believe they aren't just engaging in political theater. 2. The event in Vegas is a nightmare to both sides. The left, because it is a primary nightmare of a killing machine leveraging the power of modern firearms and efficient tactics to slaughter the innocent. The right because the a bad man with a gun can only be stopped by a good man with a gun idea about armed citizens simply doesn't work in this situation. He had the high ground. He had a mass group that could be devastated by unaimed fire and a distance that negated handguns. Bim Bam Boom Horror show. If the crowd had been armed with automatic rifles, it wouldn't have helped much, let alone handguns. Imagine hundreds of terrified people returning fire against a hotel wall of hundreds of rooms. The death toll would have doubled. And let's not forget an unfortunately politicized the identification. It's not unreasonable to think country western fans skew more right. And if you are Right. You're more likely to see yourself, your neighbors, your children there in country western fans and in some other sorts of concerts. And you know perfectly well what I mean. Don't pretend you don't. When the affected group is like you, it is harder to other them. You could have been in that group, easily could have been in that group, helpless. This is, in other words, a nuclear event where the answer is an armed population does not work in this instance for anyone sane. But that doesn't mean that a person who admits that is interested in giving up their guns. Don't be dishonest. Number five. Don't be dishonest and say no one wants to take your guns. That's bullshit. No one. Are you kidding? All you have to do is scan Facebook feeds and you'll see people who are in favor of total gun confiscation. That's the truth. Now you could say there is no major political movement to take all guns. That's probably true. That can be defended and discussed. But for God's sake, don't pretend that there isn't a difference. If you lie, you lose the right to expect your opponent to tell the truth. Here's where the opening is. Those willing to speak the truth on the left or the right, who are willing to see the common humanity. You know, we both want to live. We both love our children who are willing to look into their own hearts. We are both angry because we're both afraid have the chance to put down their rhetorical weapons and look at the shared reality. 7. That shared reality is that both sides would like to stop the mass murders and the safeguards currently in place, whether seen as gun regulation or gun availability, have both failed in this instance. It is not, I believe, unreasonable to say that more guns in the hands of good guys wouldn't have helped a damn bit. But if you don't grasp that the opposite side is listening and reading your threads, just as you are reading their threads and listening to their threads, and they know that some of your people are thinking, you know, take them all or everyone should have them, then lying about it is not only dishonest, it destroys the slender thread of trust that can lead to the future of we want. What do we all want? Happiness. To have that we all need some combination of security and freedom. We all want our children to grow up and live happy lives. Imagine a world with far more happiness, say two generations from now. There's a result of decisions and actions taken by our children. We don't need to know what those decisions are as long as they lead to that happiness, that balance of security and freedom. Take your mind for just a moment off the fixed picture of what you have in mind. That that balance might be, or the need to be so egotistical that if you think you can't think of an answer or an answer hasn't been found in your lifetime, that there is no answer. Multigenerational problems can require multi generational solutions. Let our children work it out, if that's what it takes. What we can do is stop lying. Stop acting as if the people on the other side are our enemies. Why? Because it hasn't worked. Simple. It hasn't worked because that was based on politics. How can we win? As opposed to philosophy? What is true? Stray from the path of truth. Just one foot and you lose the right to complain that your efforts don't work. If you decide to run east, you give up your right to see a sunset. The truth is that we do have extremists on either side who exemplify what the other side fears the most. If you're one of them, you may be a good person, you may even be right. But if you lie about your position, I submit that I do not trust you or anyone who lies about the fact that you're there. The truth is that both sides think their approach leads to greater safety. The truth is that we have a clear example of one situation in which the theories on the right don't work. One situation. Try to generalize from that and you better qualify your words very carefully. And be very careful not to make universal statements which are great politically. Your side will love that. But lead right back into the gridlock. Want more gridlock? Just keep that shit up. So here's the answer that I. 1. Tell the truth. There are extremists on both sides. Admit it. People who would take all guns. People who think they have the right to own a nuke. Yes, there really are. 2. Find common ground. What are the things we can all agree on? We all want to live and for our children to live. Each side is afraid that the other's approach will lead to danger. Each interprets the same document to support their own position. 3. Get out of your ego. Because you don't see the answer doesn't mean there isn't an answer. It means that we may be too Time bound, culture bound, politic bound, history bound, or ego bound to see it. Or simply not smart enough. No one person, time or culture has all the answers. If this is the dark night of the soul, then the way through is the leap of faith. Only those with faith in themselves, their fellow citizens, or a larger, greater pattern will guide us through. The rest will fall back in an endlessly repeated, exhausting and defeated road of trials. 4. Start with the piece we can solve. Find the loose thread in the Gordian knot. Unravel as much as we can see today, and trust tomorrow and the next generation if necessary. That loose thread is we are both afraid and we have common interests. Now apply the five steps. 1. Love yourself enough to agree that you'd rather live and be happy than write according to yesterday's definitions. Get out of your ego. 2. Love another human being enough to imagine horror happening to your child, your spouse, your brothers and sisters. Now ask if counting coup on your opponents is worth the blood of those you love. 3. Understand history without guilt, blame or shame. Also grasp the long view. Human beings have resolved countless, apparently unsolvable problems, sometimes, often, usually not within a single human lifetime. Get over yourself. Your miserable little lifespan ain't all that important. Don't sacrifice the future because you want it to happen now, immediately, before you take the dirt nap. Maybe it can happen fast, but if so, those who facilitate that will be the ones who can see beyond their own ego need to be right. 4. Support your tribe in this instance, tribe is people who want that healthier, happier future and are willing to focus on the future, you know, happiness, security, freedom, rather than some particular opinion about the tools and strategies that can get us there. People willing to speak the truth. I'm afraid I want to live and for my children to live on both sides. There are extremists. Because I tilt more toward them doesn't mean they aren't there. And I won't lie about it any longer. I can admit that the other side has some valid concerns, and it is possible for intelligent people of goodwill to interpret a 200-year-old document differently. And we must find a way to live together and build a world that works for our children. People willing to come from love and see their own soul looking out from the eyes of those they disagree with are the ones who are going to solve this one. 5. Win with integrity and compassion. Winning is reaching that future of greater happiness, freedom, and security. I feel safe in saying that none of us is smart enough to describe the full path to that future. But I believe I've detected a first step. Just the first. And if you take one step, you'll see a little more clearly. And only those who can take that step will mark the path that enables someone stronger, smarter, more Honest. To take two more so that someone else can take three steps and someone else can take four. That's Musashi's Thousand Mile Road. This won't happen fast because I don't believe many people can do as I suggest. But just for a moment, imagine a world in which people could do as I'm suggesting. Don't you think they could brainstorming among millions, find an answer? Do you really think this is the worst problem humanity has faced? If so, you never took step number three. And what are the immediate advantages? A decrease in the net amount of fear and anger in our culture, which diminishes the amount of cause based violence and increases communication. Which leads to brainstorming. Which leads to answers undreamed of the tribe of people willing to communicate honestly gets to grow. I think they will make good neighbors for each other even if they disagree. That's my answer. I'm going to switch back now and you know, get back. You know, you'll have to have to pardon me here, but that's my answer. The first step. Meet each other with love and honesty. Don't give each other reason to increase their fear or shame or guilt or anger that causes them to shut down. You may feel better, but you have accomplished nothing but man. Have you ever been virtue signaling to your own side of the aisle? Showed them good, didn't you? Yeah, real good. Is that worth it for the children who lie bleeding? Is it really? Those who lie or scream or cannot see the common humanity cannot be a part of the discussion. Let them sleep or slither away. Remember, the monsters are crouching in hotel rooms grinning down at the crowd. Namaste. I love you guys. If you've enjoyed this, please share it. If you like the way these thought patterns work. If you're a writer you want to share and spreading ideas, go to www.lifewritingpremium.com. take a look. But most importantly, if you agree, please share this. Take.