Is This Where We're Headed?

I have a pretty active imagination. I tend to freak myself out over tragedies that never happened. It takes a little while for me to calm myself down after an imagined incident. I think the scary part is that these things could happen. Recently, I had this dream. It's become a recurring dream. It's really eerie.

So in my dream, I'm asleep. I'm awakened by loud banging and urgent voices. I get up to look out my window. Across the street, I can see a cop car parked outside a house, a male officer standing in an open car door, and a female office at the front door of the house. The female officer is knocking on the door, yelling, "Sir, we know you're there! Come out of the house!" The door opens, and instead of a grown man, this really adorable little boy (maybe 3 or 4 years old) creeps outside. He stands there for a while, looking at the woman, smiling. The officer leans down to talk to the little boy, then literally out of nowhere, the kid pulls a gun out of his pants and shoots the officer.

That was the end of my dream. The recurring part is this little cherubic face looking into the officer's face... his little hand reaching for the gun... the officer falling down dead from a gunshot wound inflicted by someone who's barely been in the world.

This dream was likely inspired by all the violence that's been going on this summer:

• July 20th: Colorado Massacre--12 dead, 58 injured
• July 17th: Shooting Death of 25-year-old Christy Golson
• July 17th: Tuscaloosa Shooting--17 injured
• July 7th: Shooting Death of 40-year-old Wendy Fisher
• June 9th: Auburn Shooting--3 dead, 3 injured

The significance of the July 7th shooting was that the killer was only 17 years old. Many people were shocked to hear that. So is my dream really that farfetched? Is it so unlikely that in the near future we'll hear of more instances where a 3-year-old pulls the trigger on someone? Who knows.

I hate that any of these deaths happened. I hate that people have to turn to violence to express anger or other negative emotions. Parents could easily be blamed, but parents won't always be around to tell you to calm down. People have to have some personal responsibility, at least in the case of these 5 shootings.

In the meantime, I hope I can stop having that creepy dream.