WHO IS RESPONSIBLE

Horror hits Dallas once again.  Eleven shot, five of whom died, all members of a group of men and women who swore an oath to protect and serve.  The motive behind this shooting is still under investigation, so any speculation is purely that.  There are a few contributing factors that can be deemed as quite evident.  This was clearly timed to take advantage of an opportunity, an opportunity that was inevitable given the unrest in our country today.  This was clearly a timed and planned attack and the timer was set to go off at the next possible opportune moment.  If you are into placing blame, there is plenty of that to go around.  If you are into justification, that is also readily available.  If you are into cause and effect, that’s not so easy.  One thing is for sure, none of this happens without the mindset that authorizes heinous actions in the perpetrators’ own minds.  It’s not the gun, knife, bomb or poisons that kill innocent people, whether or not blue is worn by the victims.  

Our society’s conversation should not be about the how or even who, it should be concentrating on the why. We have given anarchy an abundance of opportunity to create a sense of havoc across our nation.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  We as people do not have to perpetuate the mistaken notion that we all hate intrinsically.  Most hate and distrust is something we have learned.  The seeds of those sentiments may lie dormant within us all, but it takes rhetoric and a national microphone to make those seeds blossom.  We also have the seeds of love and acceptance.  I suggest we need to be aware of what seeds we are nurturing.

The responsibility for that type of happening is spread across our entire society.  The why sprouting out of divisive group think.   We see the effects of Ideologies being taught in homes, schools and on our streets.  Unfortunately, this is also exacerbated by some people steeped in prejudices who reach some degree of prominence.   We have race baiters that feel they gain stature and power by fueling the fire of division with any occurrence that offers them opportunity.  We have those who focus entirely on the how, who and what when it serves their particular purpose. There is no cause that quietly and patiently waits for fact and logic to take charge of the discourse.  We have major politicians that spout off their “jump to conclusion” constituent pleasing rhetoric without any real regard for effect of their statements.  The effect of those statements is a furtherance of the reality of why.

The particulars that caused the Dallas shootings are yet to be determined, but some suppositions will stand as fact.  The underlying cause is the belief systems that supplied justification, and those beliefs were learned.  One of my favorite books is titled “As a Man Thinketh” and it supports the premise that we are what we think.  It just doesn’t make any sense to promote anger and distrust if you are sincerely trying to help societal discourse.  There is very little justification for focusing today’s attention on the anger of yesterdays.  Time passes and life goes on.  Prejudice and blame do not need to be pushed upon the next generations of the American people. 

Granted a large number of our African American community are decedents of people enslaved in our country.  If they are enslaved today, they are enslaved by attitude.  “Black lives matter”, I don’t know anyone who disagrees with that sentiment.  It is a fact that a large part of the African American and other non-Caucasian population face difficult odds. I don’t know anyone white or colored that doesn’t recognize it as such. That fact is not a result of our American culture but rather that of a sub-culture that has evolved in answer to history.  When you create a mass belief system that feeds feelings of persecution, you also feed anger.  When you tell children they will never have the same opportunity to achieve and their lives will never improve because of that persecution, anger will be fueled.  When neighborhoods allow crime to be accepted as a means of providing, fear is created and outsiders may become prejudiced.  If you want to put a stop to the cycle of mistrust and anger, stop promoting it.  There are ways to help those communities. I suggest to all the race baiters, the community organizers and all those on the train of divisiveness, that you shut your yada yada unless it promotes the attitude that you can make things better.

Unemployment always creates need and the inability to answer needs will create crime.  Crime will drive the reputation of a neighborhood into the gutter.  One of the major factors creating high unemployment is the lack of decent education. Our current educational system is fueled by property taxation. As the neighborhood loses value because of reputation and fear, education declines. Hopelessness fuels anger which tends to strike out blindly in any direction and anarchy is a great outlet.  If our politicians want to be a part of the solution, they will find means to erase hopelessness. Shoveling money into hands that take, instead of those who use it to improve, is an act of futility.  It is a means of holding on to political power and position.  It is in fact deceitful when the race baiters blame the problem on racial prejudice when real racial prejudice in our country is minimal.

If we truly want to change the power of anger, we need politicians and people of notoriety and fame to promote positive attitudes. “As a man Thinketh”, so he is.  As men think and believe so goes the nation. Each of us shares responsibility in the cumulative effect of beliefs held in our nation. Freedom of speech is not just about me, it’s about you and me as well John down the street.  You cannot know me if I am afraid to speak and I can’t know you if I stop your speech with political correctness.  If you disagree with me, change my mind with discussion, not with your own self-righteousness.

If you are going to be responsible, be responsible for good.

Pray for our country, and may God to continue to bless the U.S.A.