Catalyst for Change
In 2018, I visited a photojournalism exhibition in Amsterdam. One of the installations compiled recordings from cell phones of attendees and on-the-scene television footage of the Vegas shooting to create a real-time documentation of the incident. It was harrowing to watch, even having seen many parts of the footage, and despite being several months after the actual event. I left, reminded of America’s obsession for guns, and of the horror those who lived through the events must have felt. Certainly, an event so traumatic, would lead to more than thoughts and prayers.
__
At the actual time of the Vegas shooting, I was living in Shanghai, and closely followed the coverage of the aftermath of an event that left 411 injured and 61 killed. I was hopeful to see how the horrific events might serve as an impetus for positive change. Surely this time, lawmakers and citizens could not ignore the correlation between access to guns and mass shootings.
Unlike Sandy Hook, Charleston Church or Pulse nightclub mass shootings, following the Vegas shootings there was actual progress.
Legislators were able to garner enough support to outlaw bump stocks.
Then, in March of this year, the ban on bump stocks was deemed unlawful (https://bit.ly/bumpstock2021) and efforts once again to curtail the prevalence of gun violence in America had been thwarted.
--
I look at the numbers above, 411 injured and 61 killed, and am befuddled. Filtering out the politics to the extent that one can, I wonder what would be enough to catalyze change. What would have to happen in the U.S. for there to be critical mass around this issue, or for that matter, any other issue of significance. What differentiates the U.S. from say, an Australia, where in 1996, following a mass shooting in Port Arthur, they were able to swiftly pass legislation and implement a government funded firearms buyback program?
Is there something I am missing?
Maybe it is because we are a far bigger and far more diverse population than Australia. Perhaps it’s because, at an institutional level, we feel disconnected from the ability to effect change, and as a result become dispirited.
With the current polarization in politics, and the involvement of special interest groups, perhaps looking at these issues as a reflection of the desire to change on an individual level is altogether unfair. What about individual change, though? Surely, if I held the power to create change for myself, I would, right?
--
Last Thursday as I headed into Denver, there was an announcement playing over the speaker of the RTD rail system that reminds riders that all passengers must wear masks. Just then, a transit officer walks by me, maskless.
Later that day, I walk into a Target, where vaccinations are now being offered without requiring appointment.
We here in America, like many other countries around the globe, are experiencing spikes in cases and an increasing stress on our medical infrastructure. The only difference is that unlike many of the countries, we have access to a vaccine, which could have prevented the most recent surge.
In the face of clear and empirical data, people are refusing to make a change for the sake of self-preservation. Instead, almost half the population remains unvaccinated. Again, there could be arguments made; concerns over health, trust of those promoting the vaccine, or simply the desire to avoid feeling physical discomfort from the vaccine.
So then, what about masks?
This is a simple easily practiced precaution. In Taiwan, when there was almost a year with no community transmission, people willingly participated in the practice. For decades, Japanese people, with one of the longest life expectancies in the world, have practiced wearing masks in public when feeling ill.
This article isn’t about COVID-19 or gun control, it’s ultimately about making change. However you feel about the issues above, none of us is immune to wrestling with the fear that potential change brings about. Each of us has some issue in our life where we remain resistant. We are reluctant to apologize in a relationship to begin the healing, or buy healthier options to kickstart a better diet, or admit we are wrong to begin opening ourselves up to learning something new. We are all battling fear, self-doubt, and the anxiety of uncertainty.
We are aware that a safer, healthier, happier, more fulfilling life lies on the other side of the change that we could create, but for some reason, we resist.
Media of all leanings talk in hopeful tones of a return to “normal”, or even “new normal”. This is a false narrative. If nothing less, the events of the last 18 months serve as a good springboard to improving our attitudes towards change.
I desperately want things to change. I miss a lot of what was making me fulfilled in 2019, but I am not deluded in thinking that things will “return to normal”. (Un)fortunately, the world we exist in is dynamic, and cares not for our comfort or the routine and life we had created.
If I want things to get better, I must begin with the belief that I am a catalyst of change.
__
I don’t know when there will be a return to anything that we once believed to be normal or that it will ever happen. The toothpaste is already out of the tube on that one.
Ultimately, I can only decide for myself how I can change in support of my own growth and pursuit of happiness. What I am certain of, is that I would rather die trying to change, than live in fear of it.