When Reality Crashes the Party (a/k/a- It Was the Best of Times. It Was the Worst of Times.)

When reality crashes the party.

We have long since stopped having serious conversations about gun violence and the proliferation of weapons in this nation. And the tragedy at today's parade for the Super Bowl Champs will soon be but an asterisk in a sea of blood and forgotten deaths.

I remember writing after Gabby Giffords was shot in the face, after the Newtown massacre of 20 children, after so many incidents that should have been the red line in the sand. But there is no line in America. 

Don't tell me the NRA has been mortally wounded and there is growing support for gun control. This was the 25th mass shooting in the Kansas City area in the last 5 years and the 44th in this country in the first six weeks of this year alone. 

The fact is America is a gun death waiting to happen. At a supermarket or a Super Bowl parade. In a mall in your town or a school in mine. In a dark alley or a bowling alley. In a domestic dispute or a domestic terrorist attack. We live in a land that has surrendered to the notion that we are under siege.  And the truth is we are. Created by our own prejudices, hatreds, paranoia and stupidity.

Today we cheered a great victory. And mourned our collective, continuing tragic loss. America the beautiful. And the ugly.

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.