August 26, 2014
Tiptoeing on Bombs
There was a time, perhaps while I was safely wrapped in the naiveté of childhood, that I felt things made sense. I also believed that things were, for the most part, fair. I understood reality due to the cause and effect experienced through daily actions, whether mine or observed in others. I also had a comfortable understanding of, and a desire for, my somewhat predictable future. Golly, when did this train leave the tracks? Today, I have no understanding of reality based on experienced and observed cause and effect. I now only believe “fair” is a place where you ride rides and eat cotton candy. I no longer look at my future with anticipation due to a fear of impending doom due to the chaos that will come. Lastly, the only emotional blanket I have now is confusion, as very little makes sense anymore. There are some that say I deserve this. The “I” in that case would be all of the people that look like me and that “I” must pay (figuratively and literally) for all of the misdeeds and successes of the others that looked like me in our history.
With just a little bit of an attempt at humor and mostly for the record, I will say that I don’t blame President Obama for all of this. I blame recent four or five generations of those who sought and seek artificial outcomes at the cost of trading a safe future reality for future chaos. To them, reality is a perception driven by an expectation that things should be good, fun and easy all of the time. The world owes them and everybody gets a trophy because their name was on a roster. They puff up and/or cry when confronted or presented with anything that limits their comfort or desires; just like a child. I blame the deadly and destructive beast of a child that we now call the American culture.
Quite recently in a town called Ferguson there was an event that put an exclamation point on some of this. A young man took some penny cigars from a shopkeeper. When confronted, the young man pushed the shopkeeper and walked out and then down the street, apparently in traffic. A police officer engaged the young man as he attempted to protect and serve the community. It seems that the young man decided to attack the police officer in quite a brutal way. Soon after, the young man was shot several times and died. Right, wrong or indifferent, this could have been prevented. However, someone must pay for the actions of others, both in the present and past. Many, many people set out on many days of protests, and riotous behavior. More people were hurt, shops were looted and property was stolen and destroyed. The politicians and others addicted to attention and camera lights got involved and any hope for a peaceful resolution is lost. Those in charge of upholding the law are bypassing it in order to immediately arrest, put on trial and convict someone for a crime they so desperately want to have been committed. I watch and listen and of course, I think.
Naturally and instinctively, we look around seeking the origin of deafening noise and brilliant flash of light. We look in horror and amazement at the carnage and fragmented pieces of whatever used to exist where the bomb exploded. We cry and yell and writhe in mental and physical anguish at the damage inflicted. We shut our eyes and cover our ears, not wanting to let anymore bad inside. Shock comforts and protects us in the moment. In the following days and weeks, we numb ourselves with various medicines and distractions. In our increasing comfort, we choose not to notice the next bomb being built.
If I were a betting man, I would put money down that says the cigars weren’t the first thing that this young man had made a poor choice about. Further along, I don’t see looting as a normal reaction or outlet for grief. But, what about the tragedy and injustice! Yeah, I would really be confused if the rioting and looting was a result of grief. Further along, the police officer didn’t gun down the young man in a sneak attack or drive-by. No, there was a confrontation first. I haven’t heard where the police officer was even reprimanded officially in his job for any reason, much less murderous tendencies. No, what we have here is a failure to cohabitate. The damage and noise you are, and will increasingly see, is a result of cultural tectonic activity. What did you expect would happen? Think along the lines of artificial outcomes and misunderstood reality. Combine that set of concepts and slap on a mental image of ignorant bystanders who are casually humming and ignoring the bomb maker diligently at work beside them.
American subcultures in recent history are increasingly hanging out signs that say, “We don’t want to play well with others.” Sociologists, therapists and other well-intentioned folks keep creating reasons and ways to force them in the same sandbox. Toys get taken and sand starts flying. What did you expect would happen? The cultures don’t want to be together and the result is friction and anger followed by hurt and pain. The young man who was shot and killed by the police officer was raised in a culture with certain boundaries, expectations, mores, values and beliefs. The police officer that shot the young man was raised in a similar manner, but with different qualities for each of each of the guiding principles. The looting/protesting community was “raised” in a similar manner as well as the extensions or tertiary markers for society like the media, politicians, etc. Again, a singular act of a police officer shooting someone who just assaulted him would not result in the stupidity we witnessed on the evening news unless there was a capacity/ability (preparation for/predisposition for) triggered by an opportunity to demonstrate what was learned in all of those entities’ life lessons.
The bomb isn’t one culture or another. The bomb is the inevitable disaster that will come from the collision of diametrically opposed values and expectations fueled by the force of will and the absence of collective compromise (or adequate time to allow for fusing of multiple, differing ideologies). In this case it seems that the young man’s culture created him to think what he did was ok. Concurrently, in the police officer’s mind, a culture training was believed just the same, but with different expectations for outcomes. The result is trauma. Then the culture movers/shakers/drivers (media, politicians, lawmakers) come on and tell you which way the wind will blow next.
What will happen next is a reinforcing of the trepidation I feel each day I open my eyes as I described in the first paragraph. The ignorant, knee-jerk society will pull another nail out of my neighbor’s fence to jam in the hands and feet of what used to be America as they continue to crucify what was made to be fairly close to perfect; all in the name of justice and law. The inhabitant masses will continue to not care about what will happen. As long as they satisfy their bloodlust at the coliseum (TV), and can go about their lives with the satiation of a comfortable lifestyle and no responsibility. The powerful won’t care as long as they can keep the masses comfortably dumb and their own posh lifestyles intact. The politicians won’t care as long as they can keep the highly addictive power and control flowing through their lives.
I wonder how I will feel in the morning. Will I be inspired? Will I be eager to greet the day that lies ahead? Will I be comforted by clear expectations and beneficial outcomes of practical and common-sense actions? No. I will probably barely crack open my eyes… just enough to check if someone is sneaking up on me. Then, I will sit up on the edge of my bed in as I soak in another morning of fearful desperation and defeat. Why? Because I know that the border is just a dotted line on a map. I know that my children’s future has been mortgaged. I know our enemies have been welcomed in our Country for many years. I know that education has been hijacked in order to be a propaganda machine that churns out the cognitively neutered. Those are just a few of the morning thoughts. But! Then I will smile. Why? Because we gearing up for another season of elections! I can’t wait to hear all of the promises and feel-good speeches about hope and change. Wait, that one has already been used. They will be forced to come up with another catchy lie. I will smile because at least they still have to be creative about lying to the masses about why walking on all of those uncomfortable ticking bombs is good for them.
— R. A. Grier