The Conversation

It may finally be upon us. A topic so great that affects so many, that our nation as a nation is prepared to have a conversation about the problem that is causing so much loss of life it cannot be tolerated any longer. The conversation is much bigger than discrimination, or murder, or justice. It is about our society as a whole. The way we treat each other as well as how we conduct ourselves. Simply put, the time has come for us to find respect for each other, no matter the circumstance.

There has been and continues to be much finger pointing, finding the fault with guns, police, blacks, mental institutions, gays, liberals, conservatives … the list is literally endless, mainly because there continues to be this need to blame somebody, ANYBODY, just as long as there is somebody else other than ourselves to blame. But the fact is that we must start with ourselves. We have allowed these problems to develop, to fester, and to come to the point where the results are impossible to avoid. We want the answers without working towards understanding the questions. Our instant gratification society has finally run into a brick wall and it’s time to simply get back to basics.

There is no single source of blame. The blame is a combination of many things and to figure it out, we are going to need to look at each issue. Racial issues, financial issues, employment issues, legal and policing issues, technology and reporting of facts vs. opinions, and so very many more. Each of these has a potential divisiveness that can play into the problem or at least, exacerbate it beyond a simple issue.

I have been studying what I think is the problem for quite a time. Long before the most recent unrest, before Travon Martin, before …. Well, it seems to me it’s been since I was a teenager so many decades ago. I realized that part of this is the simple pageantry of life; that is often colored by socioeconomical issues, confusion and misinformation about the differences between races, religions, gender and other “big” issues. In fact, it is all those things that make us different from the person beside us that create the problem while also being the legendary “spice of life”.

The technical revolution has given us equal access to information, both good and bad, factual and misinformation. Unfortunately, our training and knowledge hasn’t caught up with us to the point that we have learned to be suspicious of all of this so called “information” and to think long and hard before tossing in our own opinions. We must simply learn to spend more time with our eyes and ears open and our mouths shut.

Legally, our country has produced a number of laws and protections that sincerely exacerbate the situation to the point of exhaustion. Having laws on the books that allow prosecutors do whatever they want without fear of retribution for their actions is counter productive and is a direct invitation for abuse. Laws that allow that .5% of bad cops get away with murder and so many other crimes are equally bad. In fact, having any law that give exception to one group of people for any reason goes counter to our very Constitution. “All men being equal” must stand for every man, woman & child regardless of their differences.

Until we have leadership, a body of law makers, and a judiciary that work diligently on fixing these issues, we will continue to flounder. We may be on the presuppose of a level of civil disobedience we have never seen, perhaps evolving into a civil war based on race, economics, or many, many other things. But first, above all things is listening, thinking, considering and reconsidering. Only then will we be able to speak in an intelligent, well thought out voice that represents all.