It’s comforting to think that there’s someone out there looking out for our best interests and safety, but it seems in a manner of speaking, that we’re on our own.
The evidence keeps mounting. Tainted toys from China, a Wall Street meltdown that virtually no one saw coming, an oil spill that apparently no one can stop, and a local tragedy that boggles the mind.

I was on vacation last week when my cell phone rang, and a friend asked me what I knew about a shooting at Short Stop.  I told her that I was out of state on vacation and didn’t know anything about it.

Now that I’m back, I know a little, and it deeply disturbs me.  The fact that an innocent three-year-old girl is going to have to grow up without either of her parents is sickening.

What could have been done differently?  I don’t know.

Some will point to the bad economy and the cuts in services that have accompanied the downturn.  Doves, Inc. which was a resource for women in bad domestic situations is no longer around, and some women may suffer from its loss.

However, I think the lesson of all these difficult events is that, ironically, as the world gets smaller because of the Internet, we find ourselves ever more often on our own.

Big Brother has never been able to protect us as advertised.

Gun laws, what a joke.  They only ensure that the people who have guns are people who don’t care about the law.

In Chicago last weekend 52 people were shot, eight of them fatally.  It is illegal to register a handgun in the city. 

As for regulating Wall Street, it’s not rocket science, but no one had the will to stand up to Freddie, Fannie and the Federal Reserve, which created the perverse incentives that Wall Street intoxicated themselves on.  Hey, anybody can turn a profit if the government is loaning out money at zero percent.

And BP has a lot to answer for concerning its fiasco in the Gulf.  The truth is that while drilling technology has come a long way, clean up technology is startlingly old school and thus ineffective when the well is a mile deep.

The only constant here is government ineptitude.  The city of Chicago is unable to protect its citizens, and the federal government is unable to protect us from banks and oil companies.  I have precious little faith that the situation will improve.

As for the local shooting, law enforcement can’t be everywhere all the time, and I’m unaware of what more they could have done.  Family problems are particularly difficult for law enforcement.

In this world, I at least like to think, that family is one of the things that I can count on.  I hate to even contemplate life where a family member was one of my main fears.

In rural communities, people realizing they are often on their own, make a concerted effort to look after their family, friends and neighbors.   That’s one of the highlights of small town life.

But at the end of the day, especially in a free society, we are going to have things like this happen. The best we can do is to re-double our efforts to take care of ourselves, family and friends to the best of our ability, and maybe with a little grace, that will be enough.