Northern Wyoming News - Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

It was a horrific weekend in America with 31 people killed, dozens injured by mass killers in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

The shootings were less than 13 hours apart and less than a week from when another killer shot three and injuring more than a dozen more.

34 people killed

3 shooters

19, 21, 24, were the ages of the shooters

0 realistic attainable solutions offered

There are so many topics to cover and issues to address from this weekend's horrific events that it is hard to know where to start. I tried writing one column and addressing many of the issues at once but then I remembered the old saying ... how do you eat an elephant ... one bite at a time.

So here's what will probably be the first of several columns as I try to grasp what is happening in our society that would push young men to go and kill innocent, random people.

This week I want to talk about negativity and how negativity breeds more negativity, which results in anger, sometimes hatred and then sometimes violence.

For obvious reasons the 20-plus Democratic presidential candidates want to place blame on these tragedies, especially the one in El Paso, on Presidential Donald Trump for perceived racial tweets and statements.

We're not here this week to get into the blame game. I will say this, as I have said before and as I always say in our office, let us not lay blame, let us figure out what went wrong and how to fix it to prevent it from happening again.

Is President Trump negative on his comments and his tweets for the most part? Absolutely. A staunch Trump supporter told me this week he was tired of the negativity every day from President Trump.

But it is not just coming from President Trump. Some leftist "progressive" leaders have also uttered hate-filled rhetoric.

This was even noted several months ago by USA Today Network columnist Saritha Prabhu, who wrote in an opinion piece Oct. 28, 2018, "Today's Democratic Party is predicated on having and expressing open hostility toward white citizens. They are making the dangerous bet that most minorities and immigrants will jump on the white-male-bashing bandwagon."

Two-time former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said, "You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic-you name it..."

We live in a society today where our president calls people names and others retaliate and call the president names and it just goes back and forth.

But the negativity today is everywhere you look - in the news, on TV, on social media.

Have you ever noticed what happens when you are around a negative person? I worked with one such individual years ago. I would go to work in a great mood and a half hour later after hearing this person complain about everything I would be in a foul mood the rest of the day and on edge, and not really know why.

I understand why now. As a more mature, seasoned adult, I try to remove myself from the situation. If you're listening to a negative nelly, try and change the subject, try and find a way to remove yourself from the conversation.

If the negativity in your life is coming from TV, then turn off the TV, if it is coming from social media then get off of social media.

Recently on an episode of America's Got Talent Simon Cowell told one young lady who writes her own songs to stop writing about the bullies in her life. He said she should focus on who she is, focus on the positive.

We want to say enough of the mass killings, as well we should.

So let's start by saying enough to all the negativity. Tell all of our politicians to grow up and stop acting like 3-year-olds who say "Well he started it."

We can choose to respond to people in a positive manner. We can shut the TV off and stop listening to the politicians, we can stop listening to "friends" who bash other people who are different from them, we can stop listening to "friends" who bash others who do not agree with them. We can stop with our own negativity and fight the urge to join in.

My best friend and I were talking Sunday at the demolition derby about how we both have a wide diversity of friends because we realize it is OK to be different, it is OK to not agree, it is OK to not like all the same things or want to do all the same things.

I know our president is not perfect and I don't agree with or condone everything he says. I can admit that, but I don't have to be angry about it.

I can admit that some far left wing "progressives" have said some horrible, negative things about our country, about our president and about his supporters. Again, I don't have to be angry about it.

I can choose how I react to the negativity. I try to put more positive things in my life, like spending time playing with my dogs or just getting dog snuggles on the couch. Nothing takes the negativity away like a furry, wiggly butt welcoming you home at the end of the work day.

Find the positive things in your life and let's hope and pray that others will look for the positives before letting the negative get them to the point where they feel violence is the only answer.