Life Imitating Art?

  Writing.

   It has become a passion. I started putting fingers to keyboard a few years back after having a dream about terrorists holding parishioners hostage in a mega-church, so I started developing a plot line, characters and settings. Then I started typing.

   88,000 words and four years later I’m still working on my crime thriller. It’s almost finished, just a couple more chapters to go, but it has been quite a journey. Hours and hours of research, phone calls, map and image searches…and miles. I traveled to Charleston two years ago, where part of the novel is set, specifically to research locations I’m using for certain events in the story.

   The issue I’m having is that current events in the world have come very close to the heart of my book, and I’m now having second thoughts about trying to get it published. Is it morally right in light of the shootings at the Emanuel A. M. E. church in downtown Charleston last year or, more recently, the Orlando nightclub massacre?

   Tom Clancy, one of my favorite writers, told a tale in his 1994 book Debt of Honor that, seven years later, was mimicked in the terrorist attacks in 2001; in Clancy’s book an embittered Japanese airline pilot, after losing his son and brother in a conflict with the United States, flew his fully-fueled Boeing 747 into the U. S. Capitol Building during a joint session of Congress, almost decapitating our government.

   We know what then happened on September 11^th.

   In 1997 two bank robbers, both armed with AK-47s and wearing body armor, were met outside a bank they’d just robbed in North Hollywood by responding LAPD officers; nearly 1750 rounds were fired, with eighteen civilians and police officers being wounded during the running gun battle in the streets. The only lives lost were those of Larry Phillips Jr and Emil Matasareanu…the two perpetrators. Two years prior to this incident the film Heat, starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, was released; in the movie, De Niro and his heavily-armed crew encounter police as they exit a bank they’d just robbed…and a running gun battle through the streets of Los Angeles occurs.

   Life imitating art, or just two instances of pure coincidence?

   I’ll still work to finish my novel, but I’m certainly not assuming it will be accepted for print. Getting a work into book form is extremely difficult and highly competitive.

   IF I decide to submit it.

This Morning...

…the Orlando massacre is much worse than first reported yesterday morning. A total of fifty people were murdered by a radicalized Islamist during the worst mass shooting in United States history.

…I pray first for the families of those lost; I also pray for the police officer who was working security at the night club, who first exchanged shots with terrorist Omar Mateen, because I know he must be blaming himself for the lives lost after that initial encounter.

…although calling it “…an act of terror…”, Barack Obama never mentioned radical Islam, even though Mateen himself called 911 during the attack to tell police that he pledged his allegiance to ISIS.

…at some point today, Hillary Clinton will call for more gun control during a speech or in front of the news media. Within hours, Obama already had…and it is deplorable that, once again, he used a tragedy to further his agenda.

…several persons across the country will try to capitalize on this tragedy by producing t-shirts emblazoned with slogans relating to the shootings. I support the families and friends of the victims, but there are mopes out there who will make money on this. Numerous charity websites will be set up to aid the victims’ families, many of which will turn out to be run by scam artists.

…I strongly hope that the massive, in-depth FBI investigation will not find that some of the hostages held by Mateen inside the night club were accidentally shot by law enforcement.

…it will be found that friends, co-workers or neighbors of Mateen suspected he would commit an act such as the shootings, but failed to report their suspicions out of fear of being labeled ‘Islamophobe’. Political correctness is causing this country to suffer.

…there will be no condemnation of radical Islamists by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. Will someone, anyone, who is a leader in the Muslim community proclaim long and loud in the media that this scumbag murderer is not representative of that religion’s tenets?

Mass Shooting in Orlando

   Another mass shooting occurred overnight, this one in an Orlando night club; as of now, at least twenty people are confirmed dead and forty-two have been transported to area hospitals. The suspect was well-armed, carrying a rifle and handgun, and was also carrying some sort of an explosive device. He didn’t hesitate to attack the club even thought there was a uniformed Orlando police officer working security; a police spokesman stated that the shooter was well-prepared, indicating the execution of this act culminated as a result of planning and research.

   

   Hostages were taken; A law enforcement SWAT team made entry after police negotiators came to the conclusion that the gunman could not be reasoned with. Police exchanged fire with the suspect, resulting in his death and a head wound to one of the assault team. The officer’s life was saved by his Kevlar helmet.

   Terrorism is a possible motive. A supervisory agent from the Orlando office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has stated that there is reason to believe the suspect had leanings towards radical Islam.

   Think about that for a minutes; for an agent of the federal government to bluntly make that statement to on-scene media means that there is solid, obvious evidence at the scene that would lend credence to that theory, especially considering the President refuses to use those very words.

   As more information is released we will see politicians become involved, offering condolences to the families of victims killed and wounded. Those words will be followed by calls for more stringent gun control laws, some common-sense but most outrageous. Liberal-leaning media will magnify those calling for more gun control, claiming this act couldn’t have been carried out without ‘ease of access’ to firearms in today’s United States.

   Consider this, however: the San Bernardino massacre was carried out in a gun-free zone. The City of Chicago has the strictest gun control laws in the nation, yet firearms deaths are occurring daily at an alarming rate. Criminals and terrorists don’t follow the laws of this land and gun-free zones mean nothing to those who would commit mayhem and terror on our populace.

   It will not get better anytime soon. It will get worse. Incidents will become more frequent.

   …which is why I never, ever go anywhere without being armed. I will be prepared to defend myself, those I love and even those potential victims who would want to take away that very right to defend myself with a firearm. I will not be a sheep and I will not cower before those who want to kill.

   Endeth the sermon.