Traveling in an unfamiliar place recently — driving on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the left side of the rental car, using GPS with a ten-second delay and a printed map that was not to scale — my wife and I once again posed the question that confronts wanderers, which is a breed distinct from tourists or travelers: “Is it more important to know where you are or where you’re going?”
At that moment we laughed, for the question applied to the dead-end into which we had just turned. According to GPS, there was supposed to be a tasty restaurant there; but it was the driveway of a home where a man and his young son volunteered, “Follow us. We’re on the way to the store. We’ll show you the way.” And they did.
At dinner and then the next day, we returned to the question with more seriousness and broader philosophical parameters, wondering during our wanderings how it might apply to life in general and to institutions and societies…how the question might be answered by citizens and their communities and countries.
And then, back in the USA, there was another mass shooting, this one occurring less than two miles from our home of 37 years, killing three Michigan State University students and wounding several others very seriously.
No longer was there anything humorous about our question.
On gun violence in America, we know very clearly where we are: just about the most dangerous place on the planet where a declared war is not being waged…where guns possessed per capita is among the highest in the world…where mass shootings of innocent citizens during 2023 are on the pace of more than one per day.
As for where we are going, the answer is less clear. Frustratingly so. Infuriatingly so. For elected officials at state and federal levels lack the courage to alter our catastrophic course with common sense controls regarding what models of guns may be purchased as well as for the requirements and responsibilities of people who make those purchases.
Certainly, mental health is an issue here, for who but an emotionally disturbed person would gun down another person. But guns are the foremost issue here, for if these deranged persons had more difficult access to automatic weapons and assault rifles, they would certainly cause less carnage.
Yes, the first and most important thing to do – focus on the guns – is the greater political challenge. But I’m sick of watching pundits and politicians hide behind the mental health issue while the most dangerous of a deadly product proliferate on both legitimate and black markets and the ranks of gun owners – both sane and sick – grow to unprecedented levels every month.
JER
The peaceful scene from Meads Bay, Anguilla.
ALL OVER THE MAP 
Jack, thanks for this thoughtful post. I thought of you and Peggy during these last few days with the incident at Michigan State. Glad you are safe and so sorry for the families of these students and staff. We are an out of control nation when it comes to guns.
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Jack, I applaud you for speaking up on this issue that just keeps going on and on and on without resolution. We stand out in the wrong way as a country in terms of our inability to deal with this major problem successfully. So many other countries, Australia and New Zealand, just to name two, acted decisively to deal with the problem and their incidents of gun violence are way down. I hope the state of Michigan can take action, as we have recently in Illinois to deal with the problem. As the surviving sibling of my brother John who was shot and killed by a 14 year old 20 years ago, this has hit close to home, as it now has with you and Peggy. Dave Ullrich
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