Any senseless death is overwhelmingly tragic; and when it is predicated on a silent lack of value for the person, it's beyond words. The rage that arises now is from the powerful undercurrent that is too easy to deny or even miss, if you are not subject to it. Yet the quiet driving force is ever present. The experience of injustice or even misunderstanding is common to the human condition. We are all generally self centered, and glory in our own perspectives that favor us, and often not reality. But, in very small ways we have all known the feeling, at work or in a family, of experiencing wrong and trying to articulate it to others who seem to just deny it out of a variety of perspectives. These responses may run from not noticing it; their seeing it, but it not serving them to acknowledge it; to out right lying. It's infuriating and yet we may just let it go and resign to the unfair outcome. But when your life or the life of those you love depend on others coming out of the haze and seeing what you see, patience will run short. Patience needs to run short.
The issues of racism are complex because they hit on personal experience, power, control, fear, opportunity, competitiveness, and more. In other words it draws out complex emotion. We in America do not like complexity. If you cannot get it in to 140 characters we lose attention. It's easier to point blame then solve a complex problem. It's easier to simply persuade than to bring multiple voices together to find the whole picture that will result in the best outcomes. And we lack humility. In our competitive arrogance, we need to be right, and so we struggle admitting we might not have the whole picture–that our own limited view or experience might be inadequate to assess the full situation. We all can fall prey to this. But right now many are opening eyes to see another angle–even if it took the power of social media and watching a horror that would have gone unknown or unnoticed in recent history to get us there.
The issues of racism are complex because they hit on personal experience, power, control, fear, opportunity, competitiveness, and more. In other words it draws out complex emotion. We in America do not like complexity. If you cannot get it in to 140 characters we lose attention. It's easier to point blame then solve a complex problem. It's easier to simply persuade than to bring multiple voices together to find the whole picture that will result in the best outcomes. And we lack humility. In our competitive arrogance, we need to be right, and so we struggle admitting we might not have the whole picture–that our own limited view or experience might be inadequate to assess the full situation. We all can fall prey to this. But right now many are opening eyes to see another angle–even if it took the power of social media and watching a horror that would have gone unknown or unnoticed in recent history to get us there.
The simple truth is that we all do wrong, whether we are prepared to admit it or not.
Ask yourself the question: WHAT AM I PRETENDING NOT TO NOTICE ABOUT MYSELF OR THIS SITUATION? (thanks Vital Smarts). We all need to change–And be appalled at the lack of value our culture has placed on an entire race of people, and on life in general.
We all need the bigger picture.
Ask yourself the question: WHAT AM I PRETENDING NOT TO NOTICE ABOUT MYSELF OR THIS SITUATION? (thanks Vital Smarts). We all need to change–And be appalled at the lack of value our culture has placed on an entire race of people, and on life in general.
We all need the bigger picture.
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