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My Turn
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From The Asian Reporter, V32, #6 (June 6, 2022), page 7.
A time to laugh, but no, not today
To be honest, I’d rather be writing about how the laundry detergent pods keep disappearing from our laundry room.
I’ve been staring, off and on, at a blank computer screen, trying to think of something funny to type. The objective, at least of my writing, is to try and lighten someone’s day, usually by retelling something embarrassing that happened, more often than not, about me.
But the latest wave of mass shootings has left me with a loss of words. All the normal topics I can come up with just ring hollow. So instead of trying to fight the inclination, I’m following my heart.
I have an auntie. She’s my aunt Lucy. Since I lost my mom a few years ago, I see aunt Lucy as my second mom. She does all the "mom things" a mother would do. She calls me to see how I’m doing. She introduces me to people she thinks I should know. Every time we meet, she tells me I need to lose weight. And then, throughout the day, she reminds me that I need to lose weight.
She lives in the Laguna Hills area, around Orange County. She lives with my uncle Tom in a modest home and has lots of friends. She takes long, slow walks, sometimes with a cane, and occasionally does water aerobics at a local pool.
A 68-year-old man who lived in Las Vegas and worked as a security guard drove down from Vegas and allegedly started a shooting rampage at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, which houses a predominantly Taiwanese congregation. In the process of the attack, Dr. John Cheng was killed while trying to subdue the attacker. Dr. Cheng was 52 years old. The other 5 victims shot were between 66 and 92 years old.
From all accounts, the shooter was driven by a deep-seated, politically motivated hatred of Taiwan and its people.
I’m hesitant to even mention a motive. One typically asks about someone’s reason for doing something to better understand why something happened. There’s no sane explanation that can help anyone understand this.
My first reaction when I heard the news was, "Where is aunt Lucy?" She lives in Laguna Woods and is part of a Taiwanese church in the area. Sometimes she goes there to volunteer or to pick up some fresh groceries they provide for local seniors.
My first thought was, "Please tell me she didn’t need any groceries this week."
We talked to aunt Lucy. She was fine. She typically goes to a different Taiwanese church.
Because of Dr. Cheng’s sacrifice, the other members of the congregation were able to subdue the attacker until the police showed up.
Along with this heinous attack, I’m sure everyone is also aware of what happened at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and of course, the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The reality is, we are living at a time in which you need to be aware of the potential dangers of going to a grocery store, a classroom, or a local church.
I don’t claim to have all the answers. It’s a politically fraught topic. But I tend to boil it down to a simple analogy.
When my wife and I became parents, we made sure to remove anything that could be dangerous to the children or the family. We locked sharp knives away in the pantry. We put locks on cabinets to be sure the kids couldn’t access items that might be dangerous — things like lighters, lighter fluid, matches, etc.
To me, it seems like the more sound strategy to keep everyone safe is to keep a fire from happening, instead of ignoring it and trying to be sure everything in the house is fireproof.
I know this column may not add anything new to the conversation, and it doesn’t even really try to entertain. But when writing a humor column, the first order of business is that people need to feel safe before they can laugh.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Humor writer Wayne Chan lives in the San Diego area; cartoonist Wayne Chan is based in the Bay Area.
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