Some Thoughts On Recent Headlines

I think everybody needs a hug today. Those people who rioted in Ferguson are not typical, nor are the police whose us vs them mindset started this whole catastrophe, which was exacerbated by the media pandering to the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality. This whole business is just sad, sad, sad. Glad Dr. King isn't here to see it. This would disappoint him so.
It makes me that much more grateful for local police who reach for their can of mace or their baton before they reach for their gun, unless they are certain the person facing them is armed. (I've seen them at work, I know. The gun is the last resort with our guys. )
The idiots who seemingly delighted in an excuse to destroy almost drowned out the touching and far wiser plea of the Brown family. Violence and hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that, as Dr. King said. The Brown family is pleading for people to find ways to effect CONSTRUCTIVE change. 
 So sad that we have not traveled further from the days of my early childhood, when people of color finally stood up and said with quiet determination "No more." No more will our young men be hung on trees like grotesque ornaments for no good reason other than that they happened to be the wrong color in the wrong place at the wrong time. No more will we allow ourselves to be shoved to the "back of the bus", or excluded from common facilities,or denied rights that are deemed fundamental to all humans.

We have made some            progress, yes, but there is still SO far to go. We need to learn to see each other as humans first, inconsequential differences of exterior appearance becoming just that. 
It is not the guilt of only one group. We ALL need to stop deciding someone hates us, or we hate them, based solely on appearance. Not every dark face belongs to a hoodlum. Not every light face belongs to a racist who seeks to harm those who are different.
 Again and again we ignore the words of all those leaders we purport to follow. From Jesus to Gandhi to Dr. King, we refuse to love our neighbor as ourselves, to do right even when others do wrong, in fact, most sadly, we don't love ourselves. I think that is the true basis for most of the trouble in this world.

  
For the sake of all of us, I hope we learn.   

Things That Make You Bang Your Head On Your Desk

Seeing the Social Media traffic after the Coca Cola "America Is Beautiful" spot has been the first occasion that I have really wanted to bang my head vigorously on my desk lately.  WHAT ON EARTH ARE THESE PEOPLE USING FOR BRAINS?  Dear God, is ANYONE really THAT stupid?  We are in big trouble if they are.
First off, they don't even know what the National Anthem actually is.  They seem to think America The Beautiful is.  It is NOT.  The Star Spangled Banner (crappy, awful to sing mess that it is) is our National Anthem.  It is sung to the tune of an old British drinking song called "To Anacreon In Heaven."  When Francis Scott Key wrote the words to that song, he wrote it as a poem.  It was during a battle off the coast where he could see the flag flying over Ft. McHenry.  The crew members who saw the poem, started singing those words to the drinking tune to make fun of it, or so goes the legend that I've heard.

Secondly, people are posting that everyone here should "speak American."  Uh, there IS NO LANGUAGE CALLED "AMERICAN".  The language is English.  English, especially as used in this country, borrows heavily from just about every other language on the planet.  Just as this country has citizens from just about every other nation on the face of the Earth.  We are a diverse nation, people.  That has long been our strength.  Our ability to put our very different ideas and backgrounds together to solve problems is what has helped us thrive.  Our very government was put together using bits and pieces of ideas and systems from other places and times.
I suppose some feel threatened by diversity, maybe because they don't really understand it, or because they can't see beyond what's different to see that the most important things are the same.
Don't fear the different, look at it as a resource, a knowledge base, a  new piece of the puzzle that is this wonderful country.  Our forefathers did.  They knew enough to have vision, to look beyond what was obvious.
All human beings need freedom to think, express themselves, learn, grow, worship (or not) and pursue happiness.  That is what makes us strong in our diversity.  Our very human sameness.
Go back and actually read the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.  Remember that everyone loves their children, their family, their home.  People who make this country their home love it just as much as you do.  They are people just like you, with the same kind of dreams.  A good life for themselves and their families.  Fear and hatred never lead to solutions.  They only lead to more problems.  Love leads to solutions.  Think about it.