This has been a time of random observations for me. I’ve bumped into an assortment of head scratchers lately, and I’ve tried to imagine a world with more order, a world that can fix that which appears so broken. My head vomits out ideas but…None have presented any instant or reasonable solutions.
Mostly this is a series of questions, for which some may claim easy answers, but which likely don’t have any easy answers. Now, I wish I had some of those easy answers, but the world seldom does what I command. So this is a ‘wouldn’t it be nice’ piece. It’s what I’d like to see in what I hope would be a rational world. And let’s face it…this ain’t no rational world.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the people who are so grievously injured by the “Reverends” Jesse and Al would finally recognize that these two are perpetuating racism to enrich and empower Jesse and Al. (Hint…This wouldn’t be all those other folks on this bus.) These two con men are not trying to fix anything. They profit from a country torn asunder. They are holding back the very people who flock around them. (and no, I don’t mean the media and the politicians.)
The last thing these two want is peace and understanding between the folks with two sets of skin color, who really have a vested interest in not getting into a squabble over every little difference. If these two would simply stfu, maybe some rational thought and dialogue could take place, and a common ground approached.
Wouldn’t it be nice if folks would actually wait until SOME of the facts are verified before they head to the streets shrieking about the why of the shooting, when (not if, cause I’m a realist) one guy shoots another guy, and the only thing that raises anyone’s attention is the differing races of the two? None of the folks making all that noise out there knew anything about the unfortunate circumstance of the Trayvon Martin shooting, and yet so many jumped to the OBVIOUS conclusions. The most outrageous thinkers on either side led the outrage and insanity in the streets. Yep, both sides of the shouting.
We are not even close to knowing the truth about this tragedy, yet so many have already made up their minds, onnacountof they already had made up their minds before they knew anything. They won’t believe the truth when it hits them in the gut. This is prejudice, pure and simple, on both sides of what is a ridiculous argument, until the facts are known.
Wouldn’t it be nice if our president had withheld his comments regarding this tragedy in Florida until SOME of the facts were known, rather than chiming in on this one crime. Imagine how badly the families of those two other young men murdered in that same state of Florida must feel, considering how they sent him five letters in the wake of the clearly racially motivated murders of their children, and Obama and his staff couldn’t be bothered to even acknowledge them.
In case you missed the paltry media coverage of that other crime, do a search on Shawn Tyson, James Cooper, James Kouzaris. You can find this information on the net even if you missed it on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN etc. And wouldn’t it be nice…
Sure, this other crime was none of the business of our president, and he likely hasn’t the time for such niceties. But why did he find the time for poor young Trayvon when he had no time for that either, and it was clearly only a politically expedient? Does he really want to be considered in the same class of opportunist as Jesse and Al?
I’ve been enjoying the March Madness of college basketball. It is youthful enthusiasm and incredible talent caught in the tremendous pressure of time and place. One prominent sports commentator suggests that the college tournament is boring, because all the young talent is already in the NBA. And I find the NBA to be resoundingly forgettable. Whatever might be wrong with me?
Wouldn’t it be nice if they held an NBA game, and the easiest thing those gifted athletes do on the court, the dunk, would not be rewarded with cheers, and instead something worth watching happened instead? I’ve yet to see a dunk do more than insult the defender, which of course is the point where most of the stars rose to fame on inner city asphalt courts. But why would I pay for that? And why would I pay to watch wealthy petulant athletes who cannot even shoot a free throw, a fundamental aspect of the game, but not part of the show?
Watching paint dry. Can’t imagine anything more boring than an NBA game, unless you bring the NHL into the discussion. College hockey is exciting and interesting. NHL games could be played in August, and the ice wouldn’t melt, for it is that uninteresting.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the Islamist fanatic, the religious man who shot up the US army base killing so many innocent Americans so long ago, went to trial before the crazed American soldier who so recently shot up that bunch of innocent Afghani civilians. This was clearly a tragedy, and totally reprehensible behavior on the part of the American, but precisely what the Taliban have done to their own people on a weekly basis for years, But we Americans are held to a higher, even unreachable standard, by our critics. So this man will be quickly, publicly, and mercilessly punished so America won’t look so bad. Won’t help, but we will do it anyway. For our harshest critics are in the mirror.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the upcoming presidential election wasn’t caught in the vice-like grip of the most extreme in our society. I like the notion of the sliding scale, with one extreme on one end and the other extreme on the other end of a line. On one end you have the more conservative folks, and on the other end you have the opposite folks. You can put the various candidates somewhere along the line depending upon their stated positions. The two guys who will eventually square off against each other are set somewhere along the line, and the others scattered on either side of them. Where they are exactly doesn’t factor into this discussion. One is leaning to the left side and the other the other. But I won’t be placing these men on any particular part of the scale.
What interests me is not the actual positions occupied along the line, but rather the observation of these positions by the folks out there. To put this simply, if the observer thinks that one guy is to the left of him on the line, then that makes the observer more conservative, and on the other end, if the candidate is to the right of the observer, the observer is more liberal. And we will be soon deciding between one or the other candidates while they will both be kissing up to the folks standing on their outside shoulders, and not that bunch of us standing between them on this tightrope. So the arguments will be nothing but extreme, and any suggested changes in how we should run this country will also be too extreme.
When walking a tightrope, stacking too much weight on one shoulder yields only one eventual outcome. Whichever guy wins this time, we get to enjoy the fall.
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