“Look for the Helpers” — then we do our share

“Turning the reassuring line for children into a meme for adults
should make everyone uncomfortable.”

Ian Bogost, The Atlantic Monthly (Oct. 29, 2018)

I. The Helpers

“Finally, at one point,
I was able to pull the gun away
from him, shove him aside,
create some
distance.”

Tsay said.

“Get the hell out of here. I’ll shoot you.”

Common meme circulating all over the internet every time there’s a mass shooting. Ian Bogost’s point is blocked by a paywall, so I cannot read his entire argument. If his claim is that one shouldn’t offer ADULTS comfort by saying “look for the helpers” — because adults have a duty to be helpers themselves, or to help the helpers, or to help ensure that there are helpers — then I’m all for it. But the bystanders who comfort one another with this soothing meme aren’t necessarily sitting back and letting things get bad. Feeling even more helpless after a shooting isn’t going to help us change the things that must be changed.

II. How do we respond to the count?

Was this # 35 or #36? Or 35 and 36 all at once?
Was it 11, or is it…18?
What to do in the face of so obscene a scene?
Such dark and bloody months.

Look away, look away —
The show will wreck your New Year
Your whole life and your day —
Ban it, damn it,
Unfortunate events happen
So many urgent notifications
Demand a hundred years of our attention.

III. Buffalo

“Aaron Salter fired multiple shots at the 18-year-old
who police say had
scouted the store
with hate in his heart.”

Look to the helpers?
Sometimes they try their best
Sometimes they give their all
Sometimes we lose them
Nonetheless.

IV. Unfinished

When I was a boy, my mother said to me
Things she does not say now I’m a man.
Her comfort words were powerful.
My own? Uncooked, unfinished,
Eggs frying on an empty pan.

Help. Help? Help!
I will, if and when I can.