
On the news this week, I heard the claim that the terrible shootings in Georgia and in Colorado were “unpreventable.”
That was it. The straw that broke the camel’s back.
So many lives, needlessly lost. Haven’t we had enough of that with COVID? I suppose COVID–our experience of COVID, and the reckless loss of so many lives– was unpreventable as well?
I couldn’t help but feel that no one has the moral high ground to make that claim, the claim that something so horrible was unpreventable. They especially have no right to say it, if they have done next to nothing, to prevent it happening.
I wonder if I was alone in thinking this.  When I heard the word “unpreventable,” the golden oldie by Irving Gordon, “Unforgettable” (here sung beautifully by Nat King Cole) came to mind. As I hummed the tune, I found myself writing new lyrics, just for this solemn occasion.
May this be the last time we hear such nonsense from our public officials!
May I present this sobering parody:
Unpreventable
Skies blue or gray
Unpreventable
Or so they say
Though the mode is
Reprehensible
And inaction
Indefensible
Such an act is
Unpreventable,
Still.
Unpreventable
Not at a school
Unpreventable
No rhyme, no rule
Some madman can
Be the toast of the
Town, so famous,
Going postal,
Around these parts, its
Unpreventable,
Still.
Unpreventable
On down the years
Unpreventable
Who’ll count the tears?
At a concert
Going for a drink
In a grocery
Do you really think
All these deaths are
Unpreventable,
Still?
Copyright 2021 Andrea LeDew
(Parody of “Unforgettable” by Irving Gordon.)
For more on the tragedy of gun violence, see River of Grass.
For an encouraging poem for advocates, pursuing worthy causes, read The Yoke.
I just don’t want to believe that these tragedies are not preventable.
Me neither. 😔