I know I said yesterday that I didn’t want to write about the verdict. And I don’t.
I don’t really want to write about our reactions to it, but I think I have to.
In all of my Tuesday whines about not wanting to write, it is perhaps more that I don’t want to write about certain things.
I don’t want to be a copywriter. I no longer want to play in politics.
Trust me, sometimes I have the urge to pound away at the keyboard, but I wonder what, if any, good it will do.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
So where do I draw the line when it comes to caring and speaking out for things that are important vs. not getting caught up in the parade just because the band is warming up?
Then it becomes a matter of when it’s more important to speak up than to worry about being canceled.
I don’t have to worry about being canceled you say?
I’m a (mostly) conservative, Christian, Southern, senior, white, male. I work in government and theater.
You do the math.
Because, I don’t do math.
No matter how rationally I try to speak, there are those who just believe my opinion doesn’t matter.
You know it’s true.
So, I read with interest this post from The Art of Manliness:
Why We Like Some People and Don’t Like Others
The article was written in 1931, but still has some practical commentary and advice.
It’s an older code, but it checks out.
Although I’m likely to get in trouble for quoting a site called The Art of Manliness.
What the article boils down to is basically this: Don’t be a jerk.
Jesus already said that:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40
I would like to think that Tuesday’s verdict would mean that we can now begin to heal and begin to get along with each other again.
I don’t put much hope in that.
And just in case you think I might be disagreeing with the verdict I said I wouldn’t write about, I am not. Chauvin was clearly in the wrong. I’m just not so sure it was as simple as some people made it out to be. But the system worked.
There will likely be an appeal. If there is, let the system work again.
I wish we could have discussions where we could disagree on policy and still be friends at the end of the day.
Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog managed to get it right.
That’s two obscure cultural references (so far) if you’re counting.
As a society we may have gone too far when it comes to hopes of civilized disagreements. Certainly the anonymity of social media hasn’t helped.
We’ve got some work to do.
Government can’t fix this no matter who is President.
It’s going to take you and me sitting down to have a face to face conversation without hurling insults that are so easy to tweet out.
Actually it’s going to take millions of us doing that.
Let’s get started.
Photo by Kimson Doan on Unsplash
MUSICAL INTERLUDE
RANDOM LINKS OF INTEREST
ICE to stop using the term ‘illegal alien’ referring to immigrants
ABC News
The Postal Service is running a ‘covert operations program’ that monitors Americans’ social media posts
Yahoo! News
Arizona governor orders “vaccine passport” ban for the state
AP
Norfolk’s casino resort could open in 2023 — here’s a new glimpse of what it could look like
The Virginian-Pilot
WHAT I’M READING
PODCASTS I’M LISTENING TO
BENEDICTION
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26