I’m sitting on the porch on Saturday night looking up at the sky when I see a shooting star. I say to myself out loud, “well there goes the end of a solar system.” In reality, a shooting star is just a meteor burning up on the way through earth’s atmosphere. However, several solar systems in the universe did end in the time that this meteor zipped by. Each day, millions of stars die. Millions of suns like our own just gone.
As one being out of 7 billion similar beings of this one species among 8.7 million other species on this one planet of 8 planets orbiting one star in a galaxy of around 250 billion stars, I am somehow perfectly positioned for life. In fact I see the yellow and pink cinders of the sunset of my star on the horizon even as many more others just super nova’d into darkness. It’s a humbling and calming feeling for me to think of the vastness of it all. However, back down here from my vantage point in my country on this planet things feel grim.
What is Worth Protesting?
An epidemic has killed hundreds of thousands of people world wide. In my country, we have avoided many more deaths by largely uniting in quarantining and social distancing measures. At the same time we have somehow made it political with some people finger pointing and protesting a vague feeling of injustice by refusing to wear masks or standing on the steps of state capital buildings with assault rifles in hand.
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images
In this environment of isolation and fear, millions of Americans have also lost their jobs as the economic shock is reverberating. Statistics show (1,2,3) that those hit the hardest by Covid19 as well as associated job losses, and economic woes are the same minorities that are poorer than average and have grown up amidst a long legacy of racism.
Senseless Killing
My brother called to tell me that something happened in Minneapolis. He kept trying to explain but felt the description wasn’t enough. “Just watch the video,” he said. I watched angry and nauseous as George Floyd was killed out in the open and during the day while bystanders tried to stop it. The only thing that prevented them from doing so was the fact that the killer wore a Minneapolis PD uniform. This is the state that I grew up in and the city that I called home for over 6 years. As I watched the 10 minute video, I pled out loud at the screen. Bystanders said the same things to the police on camera and yet still this man was killed. No charges were filed against the officers involved until violent riots began.
I came to find out that the officer who killed George Floyd had at least 17 prior conduct complaints against him. How many others had he done this to? How many times has something similar happened without a crystal clear video recording? How many other officers like this are out there? One could not have scripted a more mobilizing incident to thrust the ongoing fight for equality in this country into an unflinching and unmoving spotlight. Protests, marches, and riots have followed.
The Darkness
Whether you love him or hate him, it is accurate to say that the president of the United States has continued to stoke division and partisanship over the last 4 years to a degree that I have not seen prior in my lifetime. Today, Covid19 and economic fallout has hit us hard and there is widespread division when we most need unity and consistent accurate information and efforts from our government.
I have watched as our same president with a long history of alarming behavior surrounding race, then used the same combative phrases used by segregationists from the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement (3,4) to address Black Lives Matter protests. Again, this provoked and was combative when we most need unity.
I have stated before that I am politically independent and I generally try to avoid topical or political current events because they are not evergreen. They won’t be useful 5 months or five years from now. They also have little to do with my mission in running this site. However, I do not believe that these issues that I mentioned are political issues. Equality is part of what gives everyone freedom and opportunity. Freedom and opportunity are precursors to living a life outside the maze.
Similarly, a president that stokes hatred and seeks to divide, for personal gain, the very people that he is supposed to be serving hurts the country that I love. It is not democratic or republican to simply ask, “have you left no sense of decency?”
Being an Ally
Loads of voices on Twitter are telling me what I need to do right now. Some are claiming that you are either with us or against us. Some are claiming authority over what is right and wrong and telling others to just unfollow if they do not agree. I say enough division. The speed at which we reach judgement on the internet today and then condemn anyone that says one statement we don’t like is alarming and immature. There’s no line in the sand for me. I grew up in a homogeneous community and it has taken me a lifetime to appreciate people of all backgrounds and types. I learn more every day. Bias is real for all of us and anyone who claims to be 100% not racist is glib and/or lying. However, we can learn from each other. Diversity everywhere means more information, more perspective, and better decision making that serves even more of us collectively. In my experience, this is how diversity makes us stronger.
The Dawn
I am looking up at the night sky and all of the other worlds out there. Things feel less dire with this perspective. We may be just one species among 8.7 million others on one planet of 8 that orbit one sun out of the billions of others. However, today 247 million suns were extinguished but others were born. Our sun still rises. The universe may be intractable but this little speck is our world. We have time to make our world what we aspire it to be with the best and most noble parts of our humanity. It shouldn’t take a shocking news story to fight for and defend equality. Racism and xenophobia are unequivocally destructive to the human race. However, I am hopeful that now is a time of momentum to make big strides toward long term racial equality goals. It is in this spirit that I lend the tiny voice of Life Outside The Maze this week.
If you have any personal experiences from these recent events to share or sincere questions / clarifications in regards to the content of this article please feel free to chime in with a comment below.
3 comments
Thank you for this thoughtful post and for taking a stand for equality.
I think the idea of defunding the police has some similarities to personal finance. We need to take a look at where we are spending money and if we are getting value from it. How much money was spent on police resources to respond to the George Floyd incident? And how much did it cost Minneapolis in the aftermath? Over a fake 20 dollar bill which he may or may not have knowingly passed? Was this all worth it over 20 dollars?
My house was broken into recently and my phone was stolen by a homeless man who may have been on drugs or had a mental illness. Could he have been better served by the city if there were more mental health, homeless, or addiction resources? Would he have not broken into my house scaring the hell out of me just so he could pawn a phone for 50 dollars? Or were we both better protected by a big police budget that spent that money armored vehicles and assault weapons? We need to ask these questions and not just assume a big budget for police will keep us safe, even at the expense of nearly every other municipal service.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment Dominic. You make a good point on whether we are getting value for our money. It raises the question of what modern policing should look like? It’s certainly not the gun toting sheriff of wild west times anymore and we need a model that works for the complex needs of protecting and serving today.