I haven't written in months. I have plenty of opinions, as everybody does, it just didn't seem worth it to put them to paper. Well, not paper exactly. But you know what I mean. But with this very decisive year coming to an end, I would like to collect all my thoughts on 2015 and then graciously move forward.
Publicly, 2015 seemed to be awfully ugly. The media did a bang up job of twisting truths and then Facebook and its sheep propelled the half truths and no truths out and about for all the world to share. Many times I thought about getting off Facebook because of the shit that flies, but then I came across a page dedicated to rescued flying foxes in Australia and my faith in humanity was gently restored. I think it would be great if people understood a few truths about Facebook. Not all memes are true and no one is required to fact check them. That is true about posts as well. One can say just about anything one would like on Facebook and well, as Abraham Lincoln said "don't believe everything you read on Facebook." Typing "AMEN" or sharing a status, particularly one that shows a neglected dog, a battle worn soldier or a child with cancer, will do little to cure the ails of the world. Oddly, giving time and money to animal rescue societies, Wounded Warrior Foundation and Curesearch will do much to cure the ails of the world. I don't understand what a spam is or how a spammer makes money, but I do understand that many of the above posts are run by spammers and only does them good in a bad sort of way.
We all heard that "Black Lives Matter" and conversely, "all Lives Matter" and "Police Lives Matter". It appeared that one could not understand the meaning behind one movement and believe that the other movements were also important. I believe all lives matter. I also believe that it is a lot easier to be a middle class white person in America than not. Unless I was an upper class white person. That is not to say that many problems that people face regardless of color are brought on by their own actions. But it is fair to say that a white kid is not as quick to be judged as a back kid. Prejudices run deep folks, with reason and with fear. Lives matter, absolutely, but that matter has to start at home, in the eyes of the beholder. I am only responsible for my actions. It is not reasonable to put the actions of white people before me or next to me as my blame.
Police lives matter. Yes, they do. I have written about this already. The media did an excellent job of creating an image of a comic book Gotham type world of law enforcement. And the media is sorely misguided. I have great respect for those in the media, usually local stations, that did ride alongs and participated in training exercises so that they could have a better understanding of what an officer is up against on any given call. These lives matter because they are the only ones willing to run in when the rest of us run out. Dirty cops? Sure, there are dirty cops. Power hungry thugs in uniform? I bet there is. Should they be in law enforcement? Of course not, but should all the upstanding, hard working be lumped in with them? Absolutely not, just like every person of color is not a gang member, or every middle easterner an Islamic terrorist.
Which leads me to that hot button. Refugees or migrants or whatever one would like to call them. I like the term people fleeing a world at war. This issue tore at my heart in such a way that I had a hard time looking at myself. I completely understand the fear that people have. These terrorists do a really good job of fucking shit up. And I don't want any of that here. But it is here. It is here in the form of men like Timothy McVeigh, an all American boy that drove a truck into a child care center. Sure it was a federal building, but 19 of the 168 people killed that day were children. It is here in the form of mad men that shoot up schools and movie theaters. It is here in the form of Islamic terrorists that fly planes into buildings and shoot up Christmas parties. There is no denying that the terror that lives in this country is home grown and foreign. Pointing the finger at a Syrian refugee gives one three more fingers to point at someone with issues with the government, someone with a point to prove to a high school, or one with some type of mental issue that creates an elaborate plan at a movie theater. I know people that escaped Iraq. I listened to their stories and was in awe. I was also so embarrassed by how little I knew of what was happening in Iraq at that time and what is happening in Syria now. I also think of the other middle eastern Muslims that I know, specifically Dr. Alzein and Dr. Rahdi. Both were Ashlyn's doctors here and in Iowa City. Intelligent, educated, kind and fully invested in saving my child's life. Not the Islamic terrorist that one fears.
I cannot call my self a child of God and believe that people do not deserve a life free from the hell that they have endured. It is as simple as that.
America is great enough to take care of those that are already here and suffering and those that need a respite from their suffering. We, as a nation, are better than we appear. I know that. We are better than those who speak for us on television and on the campaign trail. Maybe it's time to show ourselves and the world that we are better than that.
The beauty of people is that we all have different points of view. Unfortunately we express those points of view too frequently through misinformation and ugliness. I hope, I pray that 2016 can bring out the better in us. I encourage us to find that which unites us instead of focusing on what divides us. What if 2016 was the year we stopped bitching that someone should do something and realize that we are all someone.
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