“You can talk to a stone” my wife has said a number of times and she’s probably right, and I probably have more often than not. I talk for a living, have for 44 plus years, and there’s no end in sight for that. I enjoy writing, I enjoy debating issues, I enjoy exchanging ideas. All that said, I have been really struggling with exactly how to frame the past few days.

I’ve been fortunate, in a sense, to have been alive long enough to have experienced protests for any number of things. The Bronx riots way back when, Vietnam, Kent State, “My Country Right or Wrong” parades in NYC, RFK giving an incredibly poignant speech trying to quell the upheaval after the shooting of MLK, The Stonewall “massacre” in NYC,  Phil Ochs songs (still, sadly, apropos 50 years later), I’ve also seen lots and lots of people pulling together when times demand it…9/11 being the most powerful example.

What has taken place in the past few weeks is nothing new, the Amadou Diallo shooting was more than 21 years ago, Eric Garner and likely many, many more unreported, or at least unaccounted for similar instances. The visual horror of what happened to George Floyd is no less horrific than any of these other crimes (and make no mistake, they are crimes, and many, likely most, are not “happenstance” they are premeditated in the sense that the perpetrators are simply waiting for opportunity as they are most clearly predisposed to some kind of “cleansing”. These are not crimes of passion, the are opportunistic lashing out. 

I don’t know what to say or how to frame it otherwise.

Here is what I believe…the overwhelming majority of people are good! I am acquainted with, and in fact, have family members who are on various police forces. I respect each and every one of them. While we may not agree on everything, they currently or, if retired, have in the past, gone out each day of their working lives and put THEIR lives on the line for the community they serve(d), I remain in awe of their dedication to their craft. There is not a single profession, be it a “closed group” or a wide open collection that does not have its very small percentage of “bad apples” Pedofile priests do not diminish the incredible efforts of the majority of that calling. Incompetent $$ chasing doctors, a very small group, do not represent the majority of the medical community, who work for the good of all around them. My brother and sister educators are constantly bombarded and criticized due to the few terrible members of the profession.

We all share the same make up, we are human beings. Skin color, religion, sexual preference are individual distinctions not targets that are placed on our backs for others to shoot at. Diversity is precious and wonderful, It is up to our leaders, administrators, “bosses” to attend to the occasional problems, and by not taking it to heart and removing the problems, they are as complicit as those who perpetrate the abhorrent behavior in any circumstance. Our nation was founded by those who were protesting injustice from abroad, the current injustices are not from across the pond but are still require a rebellion of sorts. I’m not advocating violence, I abhor it, the “right to assemble” is another one of those sticky “rights” that some take issue with. We only have to remember Kent State (current closest example) to remember what can happen when caution is not the watchword. If you kneel on an athletic field, you might lose your job and be ostracized, but what really is wrong with that? So if that’s the case, how can you not understand people of all kinds, having their emotions and actions taken to another level?

I don’t understand the need to buy, own and carry weapons of any kind, however, most of the folks I know who believe in it, are really good conscious owners who take great pride in what they do. We, as humans, need to ALWAYS call out bad behavior, to teach our children that such action is wrong and, in the end, to know better and to do better.