In a day and age when technology is held ever closer to godliness, we need to step back and take a good look around us, planting our feet flat on the ground for a hard core reality check.
The events of Friday, July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado, where 12 people lost their lives, and 59 were wounded, when 24-year-old James Holmes, a neuroscience Ph.D candidate, armed with an assault rifle, shot gun and two automatic hand guns, tossed a canister of tear gas into the theatre and then opened fire on the unsuspecting occupants at a suburban Denver movie theatre number 9, as they sat during a midnight premiere of the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises."
The suspect was arrested by police, without incident, at the rear of the theatre where he had just killed 12 people.
James Holmes had died his hair red and told the police that he was "The Joker."
Among those in the theatre were a three-month old baby and a six-year old. Who in their right mind would being a three-month old and a six-year old to a movie theatre at midnight anyway? What is more important being a responsible parent or fulfilling a selfish need to immerse yourself momentarily into a world of digital fiction?
Why would anyone go to a midnight premiere to see a fictional character that is being placed on a sociological pedestal anyway?
What is wrong with society?
Is life so bad that we must herald fictional characters in a Hollywood manufactured fictional movie, where, if you want to get to the bottom line has only one goal and that is to make money for Hollywood, the theatres and the cross merchandising that will make billions of dollars for them from people who work hard for the money?
Is life so bad that people willingly handover to anyone, their money for an imaginary trip from reality to their chosen digital fantasy?
Psychologists tell us that those who flock to these fictional movies and convention fan events are unhappy with their lives and think that they would be happier as another person, even if a fictional comic book character. There are typically people who are not so successful in this world but might be a hero or king in another world.
You see them at movie premieres and at fantasy conventions everywhere, dressed up like their alter-ego comic book or sci-fi hero, trying to mimic them in every way possible. Comic conventions, sci-fi conventions and now, even Halloween conventions - people flock to them by the thousands, shelling out millions of dollars for the opportunity to justify their need to escape life as they know it and become someone or something they're not.
We know for a fact that when a new UFO/extraterrestrial movie is released, UFO sightings in the area where the movie has played, reported sightings spike. The same is true of movies that have a paranormal theme is released.
The same is true of television shows, and the very best example of this is when The 'X' Files was first aired in the early 90's. The 'X' Files was then followed by a number of television series all relating to UFO's, extraterrestrial visitations, alien abductions, government conspiracy and so on.
Then, with the booming growing of home computers being connected to the internet, the paranormal and pseudo-sciences went viral. Anyone with an audio card and a cheap microphone could now call themselves a radio host, and dispel whatever was on their, even if they do not know what they are talking about.
In my opinion, the internet is the largest septic tank that mankind has ever created. Although there is truth to be found on the internet, the majority of it is crap!
Bullying has now hit the digital age, people are blogging random thoughts without having the common sense to think before they type and hit the enter key.
People are leading secret lives using digital avatars in virtual reality worlds where they virtually live a second life with digital life partners, get digitally married, buy and sell digital real-estate (with real money) and conducted their virtual reality lives on a real day-to-day basis.
We are now seeing cases before the courts where real people are presenting digital marriages and affairs as ground for real divorce cases!
The tragic events in Aurora, Colorado must be seen as a wake-up call to one and all.
Life is precious and as human beings, we must all take responsibility for our actions, get our feet back on the ground and heads out of the clouds and away from the digital devices that so many are addicted to, grab the bull by the horns, and together, working as one, make this real world of our, planet Earth, a better and safer place for our children, and for generations to come.
It is up to us, now, in this real world, to make this happen, leading by example of family unity and not under the spell of the digital age and the devices that makes it oh so easy to escape and become part of its virtual world timeless spell.
If you were an extraterrestrial, who has the ability and technology to cross the time-space continuum to this planet, with it wars, civil unrest, global warming, economic failures, famines, diseases, would you really want to stop and make contact with us?
I really believe that out in space, on the other side of the moon, there is a large sign that reads: "DETOUR - PLANET EARTH AHEAD."
My heart and prayers are with all those who are grieving the loss of a loved one or friend, as well as for those who have been wounded in this senseless tragedy, the number one mass shooting in the history of the United States, the massacre in Aurora, Colorado, on the day Batman cried.
Rob McConnell, Hamilton, ON.
