There are a lot of things that annoy me. Honestly, I’d like to think of myself as a tolerant person. But the truth probably lies somewhere between those two statements. Maybe, sadly, a little closer to the first one.
Yes, police brutality is a problem. Yes, it’s been a problem for a long time. Yes there should be something done about it. No, I don’t know what to do about it. I acknowledge that I don’t have the answers and that an opinion without a solution is basically worthless, but that’s never stopped me having opinions.
Protests are fine as long as you know what it is you are protesting. Are all these people congregating unlawfully really sure what they are so angry about? Are they upset that it seems that black lives don’t matter? Or are they upset about police brutality? Because the latter is perpetrated upon all the various races. Or are they just upset at how police treat people of color and could care less about how the police treat the other races? Because if they really cared, their signs would be about the brutality and not black lives. That’s my opinion.
And all these people congregating to protest are risking spreading the corona virus, or catching it. Stupid.
So many protests begin with a desire to be peaceful but end up not remaining that way. Mobs of people have a track record of behaving badly. Anonymity and escalation of anger by close proximity are always going to create trouble. People should seriously think twice about engaging in such activity. Especially now with Covid-19 the problem that it is.
In the state of Arizona, since lessening some of the restrictions and with the gathering of protesters, there has been a one day increase of over a thousand confirmed Covid-19 cases.
I’m sorry, but looting is not a form of protest. Looting is a crime, pure and simple. The people doing the looting are using the protests as an excuse to behave badly. Very badly.
My husband just told me that somewhere, he didn’t remember where, a black policeman responded to a call about looting and the looters shot him and the black policeman died. I’d like to know the race(s) of the people doing the looting. Because if there were any black people in that group, then that was so supremely stupid as to be beyond belief.
These looters are harming others. They are harming their communities. So very stupid.
If you want all of humanity to behave humanely and with tolerance, then unfortunately, you can’t tolerate or condone in any way the behavior of these looters no matter what sort of spin the looters might try to put on it.
And as far as I’m concerned, all life matters.
And not just human life. All of it. Period.
Everything we do affects everything and everyone around us.
Everyone needs to remember that. Always.
Which is why I’ve had so many second thoughts about posting this. But in the end, my annoyance has won out.
Thanks for “listening.”
Maddie's Mom Writes 