By Kimberly Palermo

Let’s make one thing clear right now…. and I mean crystal clear.

The “sanctity of life” is NOT an American value. So how about we fess up and stop the charade. Sure, we value the lives of people we know and people who are famous. But in general, it’s just not a part of our culture.

Paul Farmer said it best when he said, “The idea that some lives matter less, is the root of all that is wrong in the world.” If you give it some thought, it really rings true. In fact, it is the baseline measurement that Americans use to determines if we should get “up in arms” over an incident, or whether we should simply file it under, “status quo” and move on.

By now you’ve guessed that it was not an accident that I used the idiom referencing fire arms.

Yes, once again, Americans find themselves talking about the latest mass shooting by yet another white, homegrown terrorist. Like other weekly occurrences of this sort, this mass shooting (loosely defined as a consecutive shooting of four or more people) will make news for a few days or even a week, and that will be the last of it.

But mark my words, nothing will change because it is part of American culture. Yeah, you read that correctly. Americans do not value life. Let me re-word that. We do not value life in general. Unless we personally know them (family, friends, etc.) or if they are someone famous, the unspoken attitude is that they probably did something, to bring it upon themselves. Maybe that’s some type of defense mechanism we use to justify the tragedy so we are not terrified that this same tragedy could befall us. I honestly have no idea. But American culture is quite clear.

We like to talk about valuing all people in America, but we have NO intention of actually doing it.

Now, don’t get me wrong here, Americans do value SOME lives… just probably not yours… or mine. I’m not saying this proudly or to shock you into actually caring. I’m saying it because it’s true. I despise bullshit. I love that old 90’s saying, “keep it real.” What it really means is say what you mean, and mean what you say. In other words, America needs to stop espousing these amazing values that we all know we have absolutely no intention of living up to. It’s the dissonance between fantasy and the truth that just pushes me over the proverbial edge. I just function so much better knowing, you know what I know, and I know what you know and we are on the same page.

So let’s make a deal. You keep it “real” with our values or lack thereof in America, and I will stop annoying you by asking when we are going to start enforcing common sense gun laws. All you have to do it to admit that we don’t truly value life in America. Is it a deal?

When tragedy strikes someone we know or know of, well that’s just horrible. But in general, we’re removed enough from most of these tragedies that we really don’t relate.

I’ve read the usual questions in the media about this particular Texas church shooting… they ponder how this could happen and what should be done about it. But you know exactly what we will do about it… Absolutely nothing.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t put up the act. By all means, have indignant outrage… Tell your friends that we should really have better laws, mental health care, more education…after all, people lost their lives. But please… do not for one minute say that this is not as American as apple pie…. A perfectly acceptable part of American culture… It “comes with the territory.” Because you see, Americans don’t value life. At least not all of them.

I’ll end with the question of the day:

Exactly who has to die? Who has to die before we actually do something? Maybe that’s not the right question. Maybe the question is WHAT has to die before we get common sense gun laws… The answer may be: American cultural “values”.

Check out Kimberly’s YouTube Channel: End Racism, Bigotry, & Inequality In Our Lifetime

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