Years ago, I was very distinctly a night owl. I stayed up into absurdly late hours doing nothing of particular importance. Honestly, I could’ve easily moved my entire schedule to sensible hours that might’ve allowed me to leave work before stark darkness. However, I enjoyed, nay abused, the ultra-flex time policy to my advantage. Many ‘nights’ I stayed up until I saw the sun peek from the edges of my black-out blinds.
However, there were still a handful of times when stress legitimately kept me awake. The nights spent next to my mom, who’d never wake after a blood clot, kept me awake. Similarly, those especially important interviews disturbed my sleep. Occasionally, you make the best decision with all the information you have, and it may still haunt you.
What else qualifies? Senseless violence. It keeps me up at night.
The rise in Asian hate crime
In 2002, a sniper terrorized the DC area, or more accurately a pair of snipers. The shootings were random. You may simply fuel your car. You could shop at Home Depot. There was no rhyme or reason, just death.
Just try to imagine what it was like to live in the area. The fear was palpable.
This is what being Asian-American in the US has felt like since 2020… A father and his young sons stabbed in the face. A woman pushed off a subway platform to her death. A woman struck on the head from behind with a baseball bat, this time caught on camera.
No, it’s not to the same degree, but it’s still random and senseless. The big difference from the sniper shootings? Arresting and convicting these perpetrators bring no relief or comfort. It’s not from a single source; there’s always another one.
Distress over senseless violence
On one evening I watched the horrific news of yet another mass shooting, this one in a Colorado grocery store. I watched the news on television, though sparse in their details. On my computer screen, I see absolutely no mention of it on Facebook. I make a post, making precisely this observation. A friend eventually responds; she and her son shopped at that very store when he attended college.
Have these become so alarmingly regular that it’s no longer noteworthy? When these innocent people die… painfully… senselessly… We should collectively mourn and weep. They could be any one of us.
We should lose sleep over these mass shootings; we mustn’t lose our humanity.
Let’s lose sleep over it… literally.
I get it. I understand. We can’t prevent every mass shooting. I’m aiming for progress, not perfection. You may be a legislator and oppose any form of gun restriction. Furthermore, given all the information that you have, you may still believe this is ultimately the right choice.
However, we need more than ‘thoughts and prayers’; those very words elicit anger. Don’t speak to me about grief if you’re unwilling to change anything. Much like hearing the quasi-apology, “I’m sorry that you’re upset…” If you can’t say something meaningful or useful, just don’t say anything. It’s a waste of breath or keystrokes.
Here’s an idea, if you’re a legislator who is unwilling to pass any laws that may prevent this… You should literally lose sleep over a mass shooting.
The proposal is for each of these legislators to give up a night’s sleep for each mass shooting in the United States. The rationale is that if these incidents are indeed so exceedingly rare, then giving up a handful of nights’ sleep is the very least that they could do to demonstrate solidarity.
One mass shooting = one night’s sleep. Tit for tat.
The technology exists!
As it happens, the technology to track sleep has existed for some time. I’ve worn a Fitbit for years and it tracks my sleep pretty accurately. A myriad of devices may detect precisely when you fall asleep. Naturally, many devices can jolt you into full wakefulness from deep slumber. Engineers can easily combine the two.
The proposal is simple. Design a wrist worn device with biometrics so that we can verify your identity. If there was a mass shooting today and you’re a legislator that voted against gun reform, you do not get to sleep tonight. If you should happen to fall asleep, a 120-decibel siren will sound until you’re fully alert again. Were there two mass shootings today? You will need to stay up again tomorrow, etc. We’ll be merciful and allow the count to reset at the end of the calendar year.
Is all the noise putting a strain on your marriage? Is your spouse dead from a mass shooting? No? STFU. The very least you (and presumably your spouse) can do is lose a night’s sleep over each mass shooting in solidarity; this has more teeth than ‘thoughts and prayers’.
If you choose not to participate in solidarity (or get caught sleeping), then upon the next vote for legislation on firearms, a ‘not present’ is cast on your behalf. Once enough of you fail to participate, you’ll eventually lose the vote in Congress.
It’s much like the traditional rules of filibuster, where you could not sit, pee, stop talking, even lean, etc… You could absolutely oppose a piece of legislation, but in order to stick to those convictions, it had to hurt.
Just how many mass shootings are there?
Again, if you’re in the camp that believes that this is not a widespread problem, then losing a night’s sleep will be trivial… I mean we do it when we take a red eye. There simply can’t be that many mass shootings… This is little more than a figurative speed bump. Just take your penance with pride that you did right by gun owners. No, really… There can’t be that many mass shootings.
Let’s put it in perspective. If you became such a legislator in 2014 and served through 2022, that would be nine years and a total of 3,287 days. It would mean that you got to sleep for 167 nights. Or to put it another way, you get to sleep about five percent of the time. On average, you’ll get one night of sleep on most months; on a lucky month, you’ll have two. Furthermore, the last time you got to sleep was in 2018.
For over four years, we have averaged more mass shootings than we have days. If we can collectively cut this down to one mass shooting per week, which is still nauseating and you’d still be walking around like zombie, it will be over twelve times better than number for 2022 (647 mass shootings).
Do you still not think we have a problem with guns in the United States?