I don't know Cynthia O'Hara ,of Airdrie,Alberta,Canada,in any sense but by the actions she made public last week on social media. Ms.O'Hara posted a picture of her son Jaxon,aged two and a half striking a John Wayne pose with a rifle.It turns out that the rifle is actually a BB gun,and a broken one at that.Clearly it could not be fired.No big deal,right? Kind of cute,showing a tiny child doing a very adult thing,right? Well,that was last week,before Orlando,so I wonder if Ms.O'Hara would like to rethink her actions.
Before the tragedy in Orlando,I was still convinced that the actions of Ms.O'Hara were wrong,and here's why.It really had nothing to do with the gun.As was noted,it was not capable of posing an immediate threat to anyone.It's not going to kill anyone right away,and neither is Jaxon. Hopefully he will grow to respect firearms and use them safely.I would,in a dozen years or so salute that.Maybe he will grow up to best appreciate guns by their absence,as I have.That would be even better.But my point is,let kids be kids.Not quite three is a bit young to be carving out a legacy,especially when that legacy foreshadows the worst mass shooting in American history. Jaxon is too young at present to understand all the debate swirling around his mothers actions,he's too young to be a media star,even to acquire fifteen minutes of fame,which is about all this amounted to -LAST WEEK.He's far too young to young to understand a concept like historical context,which he got dragged into through doing of his own.but that won't always be the case.At some point he's bound to realize that his involvement in the gun debate is far from ordinary.And that may have unintended consequences,emotionally speaking.I hope his mother can deal with that fact.
We need to take a little closer look at the actions of Cynthia O'Hara's too.It's alright to be pro gun.It's a stance which is intellectually defensible.If only Ms.O'Hara had anything approaching what could be called intellect,at least in this matter.Sadly it seems too be all about herself,all about her ability to create something that appeals the the brave new world of social media.She openly admits that she posted the photo to get a reaction.That's a shame,because stimulating debate and getting a lot of "Likes" is no measure of moral character,and even less of a measure of common sense.But maybe Ms.O'Hara is capable of the remorse she should feel for her actions in light of events that were a few days in the future when she decided to put her son on display for the sake of debate.As I say.I don't know Cynthia O'Hara.
Childhood seems to have changed since I grew up in the 1960's.I don't recall having many wants or worries.Certainly my parents concerned themselves with my safety.And I learned to shoot a gun too-when I was twelve or thirteen.That's long before mass shooting became so tragically commonplace.People seemed to aspire to a higher moral standard back then too,before they were driven stupid by social media and reality TV.Now all they seem to aspire to is being the next Honey Boo Boo's parent,and they can easily do that with a cheap camera or video recorder.Just ask Cynthia O'Hara
-Blyndpapaya.
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