感谢你,澳大利亚。. D1 }8 T8 |+ z& g5 I6 P9 B
感谢你,让我在踏出家门的那一刻依然感到自己是安全的。2 a" s; o4 Z2 Q) a" l6 D) ]
感谢你,让我在邮局里排队寄包裹回美国的时候,不必担心一些被激怒的疯子会举着枪进来扫射。$ a9 _: G' M' m) B9 U4 D3 |- J- ~' Y
感谢你,让我不会担心女儿会在学校里成为一场血腥大屠杀的受害者,或者丈夫会在外用餐时被人在餐馆里枪杀,或者我的那些同性恋朋友们会在酒吧里倒在一个疯子突突冒烟的机枪下面。
! E5 n1 X9 Y6 H& S8 f) T. e感谢你,尊重和保护了大众的利益而不是个人的自私。
& Y- h( W# y, [; c) L" }; \8 [感谢你,认识到枪支不是玩具,不应该被用于娱乐目的,不应该与灌输权力和灌输尊敬划上等号。
4 P8 j: ]1 `/ \1 E6 Y, ~感谢你,没有鼓励它演变为阳刚之气的一种延伸形式。
% s( ^" b$ t8 J8 T" {2 N8 C感谢你,没有活在一个虚假的现实里,一条想象的钢索上。那里的人们自以为是超级英雄牛仔,自以为上帝赐予了他们拥有枪支的权力。
. j0 _' _9 c* G2 }9 K! D) x5 x' n感谢你,在法律无法保护其应当保护的人民利益时及时对它加以修改。$ @9 U Y8 g3 D; B
感谢你,把对人民的保护放置在对教条的保护之上。
: Q: T% w0 k/ i( K感谢你,没有被宪法的条条框框所石化。- g; N4 M* m- \0 M
感谢你,拒绝认可那些拥有枪支的借口。
3 Q1 y0 a0 z' g% S: c" Q6 C感谢你,认同周末带枪去射击场玩的想法是一种自私的放纵,却不是不可剥夺的权力。( T3 S+ @/ V% y$ J- K
感谢你,关心人类同胞多于关心那些枪支本身。9 @9 v B3 D2 o- x7 U
感谢你,展现了足够的智慧,明白更多枪支不会让人们变得更加安全的道理。
5 [8 b; J% ~9 \, X4 s( T感谢你,没有对因为把价值362亿澳元武器卖给其他国家,武装自己的敌人而产生的民众恐惧作出妥协。
! y. D) @" R0 W/ X4 H; w7 u感谢你,做到一些我自己国家无法做到的事情:使人民感到安全。
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" {8 i9 i4 R+ f5 Q8 r我意识到,枪支暴力事件在澳洲仍然存在,但其程度远低于美国。8 J" I2 s" B) w; Y* `6 }
当我和丈夫第一次搬家来到澳大利亚时,我们曾经在墨尔本的Fitzroy住了三年。( a5 C8 K+ R: I" [# Y e
有朋友对那里的治安表示担忧,我们通常会一笑应之。
: g/ Z6 G5 J) s. }- {6 W+ y% Y+ F在拥有枪支文化的国度里,和平从未真正存在过。那种警戒状态会随时出现并迅速升级。: t. a; J3 y# m8 `' j6 U* @* y
在人员密集场所,购物中心,电影院,校园,体育场馆,在这些我们原本应当感到安全的地方,枪支暴力带来的那种恐惧感是永远挥之不去的。; ^! x9 e1 `' V. J" C' \
你无法洞悉生活在一个枪支社会中的恐惧程度到底会有多深-直到你再也不居住在那样的社会里。9 U/ {7 q G/ I2 C! K
住在澳洲,让我的害怕感觉变淡,对周围人的怀疑也变少。因为,当周围每个人都可以持枪时,任何人都有可能冲上来对你开一枪。
, y0 ], D7 E: k0 v$ \1 X/ d( E* @美国的枪支法律滋生出了人民之间一种不健康的彼此怀疑和反目成仇情绪。) E0 @4 y8 c2 I$ B% V# v' v
“我会先开枪打你”的心态和友情与团结是格格不入的。
) Y8 E/ c' E4 K8 F8 z4 k, A但是,担惊害怕之外,枪支还赋予了一种权力和控制的错觉,而它其实是给社会造成最大伤害的根源。+ K4 U, M5 {3 r! n; B- c( g6 L
人们害怕的,不是下一次的恐怖主义随机袭击,而是彼此,而是身边的任何其他人。
+ i2 t8 _3 Q& e' A$ \# |因此,为了自保,他们会怎么做?买枪自卫。+ c/ t0 ? l: E) e
然而,当我们回过头去看看美国这30年里发生的62起重大枪击事件,却发现没有一起枪击事件是被持枪自卫的普通百姓所平息的。, [, ~9 u: R% z" n& K
所以,我选择了在一个安全的国家里,从一个安全的距离去看待这一切。" Z" r0 t. J" Z& a- W9 k9 Z+ i
对于我在上面所表现出来的感激之情,我也同时有罪恶感。我是美国人。我对于祖国的很多东西感到骄傲。但对于这一点,这些数不清的原本可以避免的暴力事件,我感到非常,非常的惭愧。
) W. @: a5 A0 C- Z2 C, ~" c6 L当桑迪·胡克小学枪击案发生时,我坐在阳光明媚的客厅里看到这则新闻。身旁,快一岁的女儿在圣诞树四周爬着。这里正处夏季,澳大利亚的最佳季节。微风带着和煦,而太阳则在后院的泳池里折射出粼粼波光。# m$ M# \& L- O" Z
但电视屏幕里正上演着我能够想象到的最恐怖画面。那么多死去的孩子,树底下那么多的装尸袋,那么多冰冷的小床,那么多永远不会到来的生日聚会,毕业典礼,结婚典礼,以及那么多从此支离破碎的家庭。
6 t. u; I- R3 I( ]2 o( `/ X+ p( n3 w我的身体能够感受到同样的痛苦,一如他们就是我的孩子,他们就是我的家人。. N2 M c6 g1 S5 h
我无法想象这样可怕的东西发生在我的孩子身上,一颗人为射出的子弹穿透她的娇小身躯,夺走她无限美好的未来,也夺走我的挚爱。
) q2 w( ~1 x7 }. F我坐在那里,看着那些父母痛哭尖叫。我看着她们流泪。我看着家人朋友在互相劝慰。
7 p" x# A/ t7 y+ x我很生气,我也很伤心。
7 _' U9 }9 h; G) b" |& e/ d- g+ ^我抱起女儿,用力抱紧她,在她胖嘟嘟的脸颊上亲吻下去。( i% I- Y8 @5 D9 N
我感到了欣慰。' `" M p) p: Y- W
我欣慰自己住在这里,一个真正为停止枪支暴力做了许多的国家里。( y+ f! l, _/ T' U4 _# ]; S
感谢你,澳大利亚。
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Thank you, Australia. Thank you for making me feel safe when I walk out my front door.0 S7 Z" ^# |! Z1 C
Thank you for not making me wonder if some enraged lunatic is going to shoot up the post office
( D% N) |6 V+ Z8 m0 r% S# {8 gThank you for not making me worry that my daughter will be slaughtered in a bloody shooting-spree at school, or that my husband might be shot in a restaurant while he has lunch, or that my gay and lesbian friends will be mowed down by a madman with a machine gun at a nightclub.: y; d: c. I8 s
Thank you for honouring and protecting the good of the whole and not the selfishness of the individual
! C$ z4 C; R! P8 j9 p# XAbout 700,000 guns were handed in to Australia's buyback nearly 20 years ago. Photo: Dean SewellThank you, Australia, for recognising that guns are not toys. That they shouldn't be used for entertainment purposes and that they don't imbue a person with power, nor do they command respect.
1 V+ L) I8 M; [$ iThank you for not celebrating them as extensions of masculinity.
, c y6 z! c4 _1 \, C. G* W1 ?# |Thank you for not living in a false reality, on an imagined frontier, where everyday people think they're super-hero cowboys and that God guaranteed them a gun.1 O0 S5 s0 @( \7 [
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' c: P% a0 M6 ?3 O5 } S' S6 bBy submitting your email you are agreeing to Fairfax Media's terms and conditions and privacy policy .4 F" H' ^ N9 p
Thank you, Australia, for changing a law when the law wasn't protecting the people it was meant to serve.
8 s6 R/ d' ]( Z8 ]$ k. rThank you for putting the protection of your people above the protection of a doctrine.
. M% g3 j- S4 w4 TThank you for not being fossilised by your constitution.
* T6 n4 }: N' JThank you, Australia, for not accepting the excuses for owning a gun.% @7 _4 t! V6 \: y
Thank you for understanding that wanting to have a gun to play with at the shooting range on the weekend is a selfish indulgence, not an inalienable right.
5 J+ l. q$ z6 RThank you for caring about your fellow man more than your gun.7 A& i8 ?" r c3 x& e
Thank you for being intelligent enough to know that more guns don't make people safer.
. ?( M' b& o% _ p; `) F8 NThank you for not capitalising on your citizens' fear while you arm their enemies and make $36.2 billion selling weapons to other countries.4 E% c6 N) s, i* J6 R
Thank you, Australia, for doing the job my country can't: making its people safe.
K1 v' { K- vI realise that there are still occurrences of gun violence in Australia, but nothing like there is in America.0 F( h7 Y3 M2 C' Z
When we first moved to Australia, my husband and I lived in Fitzroy for three years. Friends questioned our safety there. We usually laughed in response.
# ~1 p+ v1 l+ U4 L8 z2 GIn a gun culture, there never really is peace. There is a constant, heightened state of alert. In crowded places, the shopping centre, the cinema, school campuses, sporting events, in places where we should feel safe, there is the nagging fear of gun violence always present.% l% X& d" d* N: m3 K E; s
You don't realise the weight of the fear of living in a gunned-up society until you don't live there anymore.
4 J- l5 i3 a0 v! QLiving here, I am less afraid, less suspicious of my fellow man as well. When everyone has a gun, anyone can be the one who's going to shoot you.9 ~) m0 k1 t7 O8 x4 i
America's gun laws foster an unhealthy suspicion of its citizens and turn people against each other. An "I'll shoot you first" mentality is not one of camaraderie and unity.& t; Y" j% T6 v% E5 F, C
But, fed by fear, it's the false sense of power and control that a gun provides that does the most damage to a society.
+ T* [. f# ~1 {4 A k9 N# JInstead of being frightened of the next random act of terrorism, people are afraid of each other." a$ v+ ~% I( v) |" O
So what do they do to control that fear? They buy a gun to defend themselves. Yet not one of the 62 mass shootings in the United States over the last 30 years has been stopped by an armed civilian.% Y% {: _+ l; ~& W8 q
So I watch all of this from a safe distance, in a safe country, and I feel almost guilty for my gratitude. I'm an American. I'm proud of my country for so many things, but for this, for these countless acts of preventable violence, I am terribly, terribly ashamed.
, R1 S) Q+ V& w3 NWhen the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting happened, I watched from my sunny living room while my almost one-year-old daughter crawled around the Christmas tree. It was summer here, Australia at its best. A warm breeze, sun glinting off the pool in the backyard.+ w$ J2 c1 L8 `) l6 J
But on the television screen was the worst horror I could ever imagine. So many dead children. So many unopened packages beneath so many trees. So many cold little beds. So many birthday parties that would never come, graduations, weddings, families that would never be and so many families that would never be the same. My body ached for them as though those children and those families were my own.0 V5 o: ^8 z2 o) B% g' j6 U
I could never imagine something so horrible happening to my child, a man-made bullet tearing through her tiny body, stealing her future from her and that love from my life. I sat there and watched the parents scream. I watched the tears. I watched the friends and family try to console. I was angry. I was sad.
& [3 a% o3 e I& r8 b* K! o8 dAnd when I picked up my daughter and squeezed her and held her to me and kissed her baby-fat cheeks, I was grateful. I was grateful to live here in a country that does more than say gun violence should be stopped. It's done something about it. Thank you, Australia.' d/ ?+ v' P3 U! h) K
Aubrey Perry is a Melbourne-based writer and artist who is originally from the United States |