My sisters are very conscious of their little sister (me) and her "anxieties…". One sister says she senses my angst, and that I fall back to religion. The Pope writes: "Prayer liberates us from our instinct toward violence." I don’t want to have even the instinct (the animal brain, or some call it the lizard brain) which prompts us to respond with violence and fear to violence and ugliness which I can easily do. I spent the weekend in deep discussion with house guest Karen…. we were prompted by recent George Floyd murder and aftermath "unrest" and we watched Catie Slipp’s documentary on Netflix called 41 Shots. Catie is the Story Editor for one of 6 documentaries called Trial by Media. She chronicled the aftermath of 4 police officers shooting and killing a young immigrant from Guyana…. He was entering his small apartment in the Bronx, entering a vestibule about 10 feet long by 5 feet wide. 4 police officers accosted him and fired 41 bullets into the vestibule. He was unarmed, probably didn’t know the "rule:" "STOP, put your hands up in sight, and PRAY (that they don’t shoot you)." The documentary was captivating and visceral. It sparked many discussions of police training…. Chuck said training in the 70s involved 2 shots then stopping. Many police were being killed, because criminals weren’t stopped." So now… Training involves fire until the suspect goes down. If a suspect remains on his feet… the police reload. So… What happened to George Floyd? There are pieces missing from the video we see. I thought I saw the police shove him into the (passenger side) back seat of the car and then suddenly there he is on the ground outside the car, on the drivers side, with a police officer Knee on his neck. What happened to "take him downtown and question him?" With questioning, the whole $20 counterfeit incident would be brought into the light…. NOW… we citizens who write the laws and rules have to decide… What is offensive to us? What will we accept as actions by others? What is right?
Another name came up this weekend: Breonna Taylor. I think everyone knows that many of us have a weapon near our bed. If I hear the front door broken in, I am to roll out of bed, keep the bed between me and the door, grab my gun, cock it, shout "Get OUT!!!", and shoot if anyone breaches the bedroom door way. Yikes. I hope that never happens. Police were enforcing a "no knock warrant". For heavens sake! It means police can break into a house without warning!!!!! The warrant had the right address, but it was for a man Breonna previously dated who mailed a package to her. She died before she got her moment to explain…. "he’s not here… I don’t know where he is." If necessary they could "take her downtown, and question her."
The young Story Director Catie Skipp had sent out a political cartoon asking … "which act of taking a knee to make a point…. (Colin Kaepernick or a police officer) will Americans decry as an offensive violation of Patriotic values and constitutional rights?" Something like that. I reacted violently to the question and answered "neither! I accept neither!" I don’t equate them or say anything about their value. What I reacted to is "lack of respect for what the flag represents (I used the term "who we are") versus lack of respect for law and life. Both are offensive.
Karen said, but we aren’t what the flag represents anymore. We are a nation who sits on our butts during the National Anthem…. We don’t respect … etc etc. The argument went on through the weekend. And I came out of the weekend saying…. "It is who we are. As Americans, we are the values we were bred with." I think my mother said to me…. "You must do this… that is what we are." Whatever the "good" behavior I was supposed to emulate was based on breeding and teaching. Mother taught us to do good. Work hard. Seek the best. Do I kneel, looking at the ground, or do I stand tall? I stand tall, hand over heart. Struggle to know what is good. Struggle to do good. Peace is what Christ did. He destroyed obstacles to Peace. We can find our way to peace. It’s just a hard road for us who are so covered with negative news and ugliness. Be kind.
The small birds are still struggling for the bird seed. The lady cardinal still comes to the feeder, but she backs off when the big guys come flapping their big wings. She doesn’t fight. You go girl…. God bless us! Angels with us.