The Dallas downtown skyline was all blue last night. Every
building that could change its nightly colors changed them to blue. The Reunion
Ball, Bank of American building etc…. all were blue.
And in Dallas the sadness and shock will last for quite a while.
And it will be hard not for it. In any city, someone always knows someone that
is a policeman or deputy or other local law enforcement person. My wife and I
know quite a few. She has texted some condolences and we hope to see a few of
our friends this week. I also know members of other local law enforcement
agencies through work and will get to talk to them next week. I do not know
what I will say at any given moment. These will be personal conversations.
To what happened though we need a much broader dialogue. The
original rally/march was to protest the killing of two individuals by police
officers. I do not know much of the circumstances around the original killings
that took place earlier in the week. Obviously there is some concern about them
hence the protest that took place in downtown Dallas. By all accounts the
organizers and the police had met and had made preparations for the rally and
march to take place. These meetings are always a helpful beginning to make sure
a normal exercise of free speech accomplishes its goals.
The shooting of the police officers though is a separate
incident from the rally and I hope people realize this fact. Hate has taken
over too much of our country so people want to place blame based on their hate
and ignorance. This only makes the problem worse. Hate begets hate, ignorance
begets ignorance. We need to stop these cycles or the whirlpool into the
cesspool of evil will continue.
I went to the service they had at noon on Friday the day after
the shootings. It was very hard to hear due to the noise of the news helicopters
whirling overhead. Ironically I eventually I had to listen to much of it from
clips and news stories. Everyone though seemed like they want to do something.
Some speakers made very impassioned speeches and prayers. The big question is
will we finally follow through on what was said.
And following through will be very difficult. Once you have
something as large and engrained as the bigotry, ignorance and hate that
permeates throughout our society, it cannot be changed overnight. We have
generations of work ahead of us. I just
hope this is the time we find the will to make this work or everything this country
stands for will waste away because of the hate and ignorance. The misguided anger the shooter directed at
people protecting the protesters is our future unless we, who understand, the
problem start the real work.
It can start with words and prayers, but it needs action and
action now. Even if we take baby steps at first it is our time to start. The
tragedies will only multiply if we don’t and we may unfortunately have to fight
through some more tragedies even if we start making the right steps forward.
That will make it even more difficult.
And yes all sides in this endeavor have a responsibility to
work towards a better country. There is
a horrible history and nothing can change that, but for the future to work all
need to get involved.
We have to fight through the ignorance created by
generations of ignoring what was developing that is leading to these moments;
these shootings either by the police and now at the police.
This is a large country and everywhere you go there is going
to be someone who should never have the role or job they own. Sometimes it is people in management who have
no idea how to manage people, sometimes it is a doctor or lawyer who somehow
got by on the tests, but are unable to practically apply their knowledge and
yes sometimes it is a person who has been given a job that possess a firearm that
has years of ignorance bred into them about their fellow man and makes the
ultimate mistake. At whatever level we cannot accept the factors that lead to
people being placed in responsibilities they are not prepared for or not
understanding of their role and how it affects others. Am I trying to lessen
the police shootings by these examples. I hope you do not feel that way. I am
trying to show we have to do more to make sure the higher the responsibility
the more we need to prepare the person or learn they are not the person for the
job whatever it may be. This takes more education, this takes more awareness of
who we are as human beings and our failings and more positively what we can do
as well.
An ignorant person filled with misguided hate has no
business being a police officer. What are we going to do as a society to learn
how to address these issues in the hiring and training process? And what are we
going to do as a society to help a family understand there is a family member
that needs help. Something has gone wrong in their brain and it needs to be
addressed no matter how painful that may be or difficult because the family
member is not going to cooperate with addressing either their misguided hate or
mental illness that causes a person to do harm to others.
And what are we going to do to start working together to begin
the real process of attacking the weeds of hate and ignorance that permeate
through our society. Digging out weeds means getting to the roots of the
problem and getting it all so it does not grow back. As always many people have
spoken and spoken eloquently. I have heard Friday from those here and
throughout the country. Everyone knows killing police officers is not the
solution. Everyone knows we need to protect each and every citizen of this
great country from being a victim. Unfortunately, I fear, who of us knows what
to do next.
If ever there was a time for a country’s leaders to take
action it is now. And sometimes what we
need to do may not please everyone. This will be the sign of real leadership.
And again unfortunately we do not have the leaders in our current system that
want to address the true problems facing us. Some will say the right words, but
actually following through in our current self-serving group of political
leadership will be interesting to see if it happens. There are many individuals that will make the
effort to do the right things. I feel very confident about that statement. I
just hope the people that need to get out of their way do so we can support the
right leaders in moving this country even more forward than we have already
come.
Our forefathers and Fathers did so much for us, let us
continue the good fight and right this wonderful ship and bring back a sense of
morality and respect for all life in our country. Each person is a wonderful
human that needs to be nourished to succeed. That to me is one of the first
steps we need to implement. Respect for yourself and others is what we have
been given as the first step to greatness.
God bless everyone and I pray we do not have to see what
happened 07/07/2016 again to move us in the right direction. I hope this is the
date we truly start changing.
On secondary note, I am frustrated with some people who call
themselves conservatives. Remember the root word of conservative is to
conserve. Our country was founded on the principles and values that life has
value and that we need to let a person flourish in life (life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness). We our charged with the opportunity to self-govern, that
means we have a responsibility to make sure all participate with the ability to
make good decisions for the common good. If your thoughts, words, and ACTIONS do not
follow through to meet these principals, how can you call yourself a
conservative? It is time we continue the fight for our values here at home.
On a more extraneous secondary note, I am going to finish my
story. Unfortunately, in letting myself go with the flow when I write, it is
gone on a path I wasn’t prepared. I still have my ending that I originally
planned, however, I may need to guide it back to this ending. I should be able
to finish in one or two more posts. I have found I enjoy these bits of story
writing without purpose so I hope to add a few over time. I am still working on
my other stories where I do spend a bit more time developing the story. One of
these days I will figure out how to make a cover fit Smashwords requirements to
get included in their broader publishing so hopefully some of you can read
these stories also. (and yes make a penny or two)
And finally I have been working on this throughout the day,
doing a little bit here and there. I keep hoping in my humble way I might
encourage you to begin the start, yet we went to another service dedicated to
the slain officers, we come out and now there is a lockdown or something going
on at Dallas Police headquarters. Also I just read a headline there is a
shooting in San Bernardino with three killed including a 9 year-old boy. I ask
again, can we make this the time we start making the changes needed?
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