Musing On Monday #1

Now some of my newer followers may not know what an educated dog I am - Reilly Cowspotdog Ph.D (Perfectly Hairy Dog) or Professor of Dog as I prefer to be called.

Now like many Moms my Mom has been quite upset and struggled to make any sense of  the events of last week when all the children and teachers left this world at the hand of a disturbed young man.

And although what I told mom doesn't lessen the impact of the day or the tragedy that day will forever be for all those involved - it did help her put it in perspective.  After A LOT of research this is what I found out. (Please note the figures vary greatly from site to site but being an educated dog I stuck to the government sites where we "HOPE" the information in more likely to be correct. So here goes.......

1,500 people a day (of all ages)  die from cancer - just in the USA
110 people a day (of all ages) die in car accidents - just in the USA
1,200 die from smoking and smoking related diseases a day - just in the USA
2,200 people a day die from heart attacks/strokes and heart related diseases - Just in the USA
27 people a day (of all ages) die from gun shots - Just in the USA

The are many more such statistics that cover all kinds of diseases, accidents and violence - but they usually occur as a single occurrence with only family and close friends to grieve - mention of them in the media is very rarely given unless they are famous. So this Christmas I think we should all take the time to remember ALL those who will not share Christmas with us this year - the everyday people, the moms, dads, kids, grandparents, other relatives and friends. Whether it is a senseless mass killing or a single unknown statistic - they ALL deserve our thoughts and prayers.