Today, I kept my son home from school.

Why?

Because last night his Mom and I received an email from his school letting us know that an issue had arisen that might compromise safety at the school.

This morning we learned it was because of a rumor that a student intended to cause harm to other students.

Here’s the deal.  I’m tired of all of this.  Sick and tired of all of it.

Let me be clear about a few things about me.

I am not some squishy liberal.  Or, rock ribbed conservative.

I am not mired in some ideological wasteland where I can’t move my feet.  There is nothing stopping me from changing my mind about anything.

I love my country.  I cherish our Constitution.  I believe that we have important institutions in this country that deserve preserving.

I believe in the Freedom of the Press.  I believe in the Freedom of Speech.

I also believe there is a right for people to own guns in this country.

But, I also believe that the world changes.  It has to.  It must.

Anybody who tells me that we can’t change anything because of any reason I tell you this:  Get out of my way.

I am so angry right now.  I am angry, mostly, at myself for not having gotten angrier earlier about so many things.

Anger doesn’t fix anything though.  Any more than putting our heads in the sand.

Here is what I know for a fact.

People who think there are simple answers and solutions to anything are liars and they should not be given the time of day.

Anybody who tells you the solution to my son being held home from school today is to ban guns is a liar.

Anybody who tells you the solution is to arm teachers, or to put God back in the classroom, is a liar.

I am angry this morning because a rumor could have been true.  Who knows, maybe the rumor was true.

I’m not angry at the Administrators at the school who sent the email, even if the email raised more questions than it answered.

They didn’t get into the business of teaching children and managing schools so they could fight the battle of keeping our children safe from society’s malfeasance.

I’m angry at adults who offend basic human dignity by picking on children who were in a school where they heard and saw classmates slaughtered – who, if not for the grace of a God that was in that classroom watching over them, would be lying dead alongside their 17 schoolmates.

I am furious at Democrats and Republicans who hold public office — anywhere in America — who have the gall to find political advantage on the corpse of a child.

I am disgusted by the consultants that work for them, the ones that try to justify the blood money they pocket for coming up with their talking points and produce the slick commercials touting their pro-gun or anti-gun credentials.

As for the National Rifle Association, there are no words to describe you and the cowardice you exhibit in your faux defense of America’s freedom and liberty.

A sick boy killed other boys and girls in a school in Florida.

There are other sick boys in America.

Blaming the teachers, and the cops, and the FBI and everybody else because that sick boy, or another sick boy, got a gun and massacred innocents is exactly what is wrong with all of us today.

Every. Single. One. Of. Us.

We are to blame.

Get it?

What are we going to do to change it?

What has to be done?

How will it be done?

Who must make that change?

Don’t tell me that the children are going to be the change.

They are not.

Right now, they are children telling us, the adults, to save their lives.

So, let’s start doing that.

Take a damn chance.  Move your schedule around.  If it is important enough to you to save my kids – your kids – or someone else’s kids – then do something about something.

I am going to sit down at my cabin on Friday, March 16^th through Sunday, March 18^th with a piece of paper and I am going to make a list of what I personally believe has to be done to fight back against the killing of our children.

I intend to come up with some kind of ideas, proposals and solutions – perhaps using those of other people who have put ideas out there – and then figure out a plan to get them implemented.

You can join me if you want.  I hope you will.

Whether you join me, or don’t, here is what I am going to ask you which is what I have asked myself every single day since the last child fell in a school from a gunshot: What am I going to do about it?

One last thing.  To those who post easy solutions, answers or pithy commentary about the 1^st, 2^nd or whatever Amendment – those who post some essay by some guy telling us that the reason kids die in a school is because we took God out of the school – or that life isn’t fair – that there are winners and losers – that we are making a mountain out of a molehill – that getting rid of all the guns – or making sure that government doesn’t take our guns – that they have it all figured out.

You are a liar.