I had to re-post this. I respect the author very much. Dave Ducat posted; There is an opportunity, here and now, to move beyond this moment in a constructive way. There is a unique opportunity to have dialogue and to address the root cause of the series of problems that have gotten all of us, especially the direct two people involved, into the situation we are in. Whether we like it or not, this is ALL of our collective problem. All of us must resist the easy path, or the easy solution - to chalk it up to one side or the other, to accept victory or defeat. Neither is the case. No one won here. We all lost here, in some way, and that should not be an acceptable outcome to anyone. We have to take honest account of what happened and be willing to accept that we, ourselves, were right AND wrong. That there was culpability everywhere but most importantly, with all of us as bystanders who didnt do enough to change the outcome. That we didnt take steps early with someone far closer to us than Ferguson, and continue to create environments where these things will continue to happen again and again. Its easy and convenient to blame race politics in the same way its easy and convenient to blame police brutality. What we should be doing is looking at ourselves and how we all let this situation come to bear. Im not talking about the specific and unique individuals involved in the specific shooting - Im talking about the patterns, the societal pieces and be willing to be agents of change at a grass roots, individual person-to-person level. Its obvious that large sweeping policies do little to create real change. Its obvious that there is a large gap in understanding beyond skin color as to what community means to people. Its obvious that there is an acceptance from a community perspective that unchecked aggression and criminal activity is an acceptable way to respond to a specific legal decision and that such activity is the ONLY way to either combat that problem or is the ONLY way to acquire material things that otherwise wouldnt be available due to economics, etc. I dont have the answers. I really dont. Id like to think that Im a sane and intelligent person, but I dont know how to solve this myself. I know, however, that it will take all of us, individually and collectively, working together - being willing to set aside preconceived (or post-conceived) notions - to listen without judging and to develop the want and the need to create something different and better. One young man is dead. One mans career is essentially done. Two negative outcomes to one unfortunate and completely avoidable situation. I work with youth every day, through Scouting (as well as baseball, etc.) to try and prevent this situation from occurring with them - on either side of the equation. I dont know how successful I am, but I hope its something productive. In the end, this is a big ramble, but I hope something resonated with you. If not, I understand. Here is a take on the situation that I appreciate and hope you do as well - https://facebook/video.php?v=10152687483099769
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 20:59:36 +0000
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