Wound tighter than a drum

My mom used to say, “they’re wound tighter than a drum.” What she meant is that she could feel the tension emanating from a person. They were anxious to the point of affecting the atmosphere around them.

My mom is a smart lady. When contemplating this week’s article, I tried to articulate in my mind the feeling that I have about Las Cruces and its current atmosphere. And it suddenly dawned on me. Las Cruces feels poised to fall off the precipice. The atmosphere feels tense, as if something is about to happen. My mom’s expression came immediately to mind.

Las Cruces is wound tighter than a drum.

There are several coalescing events upon us in the coming weeks. By the time this article lands on your doorstep or in your favorite restaurant, we should know the fate of the oldest Young Park shooter, as his trial started the day of this writing. Can our DA obtain a conviction on three counts of murder? This will certainly set the stage for the remaining three defendants who face the same charges over the next couple of months.

The city is wound around the verdict – to convict is to, hopefully, help heal as a community; to acquit would be to claw open old wounds and once again allow a criminal to win the day. What about the other victims who didn’t die?

To my knowledge, the four charged in the murders don’t currently face charges related to those they shot who thankfully survived. Their drum may remain wound tight without adjudication of the crimes committed upon them.

Additionally, the legislative session is halfway through. Several meaningful crime bills have already been tabled in committees, effectively killing them outright. The crime crisis remains wound tight, with even more tension brewing and no relief via tough-on-crime legislation that many of us desperately hoped for. Instead, we are faced with anti-business legislation that seems a foregone conclusion. That’s the drum many of our elected leaders wish to march to.

Have you driven around town lately? The homeless population appears to have exploded – tents on many vacant lots, cardboard signs on most street corners, pedestrians and bicyclists barreling into traffic. Fires around town in vacant buildings. I feel the tragedy looming for those shackled in their dystopias, steady is that drum beat.

My family and I went to dinner tonight, to celebrate positive reports from parent-teacher conferences and were seated near a family who laughed about calling each other in jail, using expletives in every sentence, while their five-year-old laughed with them. How many families perpetuate this tragedy and laugh about it, while teachers who try desperately to save those same children report that their job takes a terrible, exhausting toll on them?

And anger abounds. The political middle is ever less attainable. Bipartisanship seems defeated. Political violence is a new national reality at every level. That drum tightens every day – just turn on the news or watch public comment sessions or read a few Facebook comments on a divisive subject.

Perhaps the drum that we all live within affects our own emotions. Las Cruces is wound tighter than a drum, and we all feel the tension and wince at the imminent explosive release when the rawhide can’t stretch any further.

And what is the answer? How do we relieve the tension without ruining the drum? I am grasping for the answer and struggling under the tension. But I can’t help but feel we are all just waiting for the next community tragedy. That drum beat grows louder, winding the rawhide ever tighter with the cadence.

Shawna Pfeiffer is a life-long Dona Ana County Resident, graduate of NMSU, small business owner, hobby farmer, dog-lover, outdoor enthusiast and mother to two young children. She can be reached at srpfeiffer1@gmail.com.