On Dying In A Mass Shooting
Bloody Chaos
The door swings open
rapid fire storm ensues
my body hurls to the ground
chaotic screams
deadly thunder pops
permeate bitter air pockets
and I lie still.
rapid fire storm ensues
my body hurls to the ground
chaotic screams
deadly thunder pops
permeate bitter air pockets
and I lie still.
My friends, classmates
scattered around me
breathing dust, residue
a warm sea of blood
mingles with others
saturating wooden floors
and I lie still.
scattered around me
breathing dust, residue
a warm sea of blood
mingles with others
saturating wooden floors
and I lie still.
I am slipping away
soaked in death
blood tears escape my eyes
and I cannot see
fear embodies my being
I cannot move
and I lie still.
soaked in death
blood tears escape my eyes
and I cannot see
fear embodies my being
I cannot move
and I lie still.
Mom and Dad, I love you
friends by my side, I love you
don't let me die in vain
resist the hate, the fear
do it for me, do it for us
the chaos stops
and I lie still.
friends by my side, I love you
don't let me die in vain
resist the hate, the fear
do it for me, do it for us
the chaos stops
and I lie still.
All I ask is why,
please tell me why
why, why?
And I lie still
forever.
please tell me why
why, why?
And I lie still
forever.
Cross for the Unforgiven -- Mel Chin
Mikhail Kalashnikov began deign work on his semi-automatic assault rifle in 1945, presented the Ak-47 (Avtomat Kalashnikova) for official Soviet military trials in 1946, began its manufacture in 1947 (hence the "47" designation), and introduced it into active service in 1948. The model and its variants remain the most popular and widely used assault rifles in the world because of their substantial reliability under harsh conditions, relatively low production costs, ubiquitous availability, and ease of use. Of the 1/2 billion firearms in existence, approximately 100 million belong to the Kalashnikov family, and 3/4 of them are AK-47s. They are by far the most commonly used weapons used in mass shootings in the US. Mel Chin used 8 of them for his sculpture to form a Maltese cross. The Supremus Ordo Militaris Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani Rhodius et Melitensis ( Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta) was founded as the Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani (the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem) in 1099, making it the oldest surviving chivalric order. As the Muslims recovered the area the order moved to Cyprus, Rhodes, and Malta (and eventually Roma. It adopted the 8-point cross as its symbol in 1567, 37 years after it was established on Malta. A faction in France formed in the 1820s and moved to the UK in the following decade and was constituted as the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in 1882; its main service organization, St John Ambulance, has applied the following meanings to the 8 points of the cross, which it regards as the traits of a good first aider: 1) Observant ("that he may note the causes and signs of injury"), 2) Tactful ("that he may without thoughtless questions learn the symptoms and history of the case, and secure the confidence of the patients and bystanders"), 3) Resourceful ("That he may use to the best advantage whatever is at hand to prevent further damage, and to assist Nature's efforts to repair the mischief already done"), 4) Dextrous ("that he may handle a patient without causing unnecessary pain, and use appliances efficiently and neatly"), 5) Explicit ("that he may give clear instructions to the patient or the bystanders how best to assist him"), 6) Discriminating ("that he may decide which of several injuries presses most for treatment by himself, what can best be left for the patient or bystanders to do, and what should be left for the medical men"), 7) Persevering ("that he may continue his efforts, though not at first successful"), and 8) Sympathetic ("that he may give real comfort and encouragement to the suffering").
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