This morning has me thinking about the time it takes for change to happen. In my own recovery it took years to get me to where I am. That being said, I also need to add that I most certainly have not arrived as yet!
As I read the morning headlines I see a mountain of misunderstanding, outrageous slants, biased takes, and the like. I find it hard to believe that there is any justification for looting and the wanton destruction of personal property that we are seeing across the nation. I do, however, see some of the reasons that we have gotten to where we are.
Several years ago, a football player named Colin decided to take a knee during the national anthem to peacefully protest what he saw as unfair treatment of certain people by some police officers. Some applauded his protest, some joined in, but many decried it as treasonous activity. The Vice President went to a game for the sole purpose of being able to take part in the theater of reverse protest by walking out when the players took a knee.
Words were bandied about, names were called, people boycotted the NFL. And while it was quite acrimonious, it was all relatively peaceful. and nothing really changed.
Now, several more brutalities and deaths later we see buildings on fire and curfews in place. People are asking why people can’t protest peacefully. It appears to me that some people have been pushed to the brink and are now reacting in a way that is decidedly not peaceful. That leads to another group of people who are simply looking to capitalize on a bad situation.
I guess this all comes back to my recovery like this: it takes time to heal and to change. Even though progress is made in some areas, that does not mean that it becomes universal. The turbulent 1960’s gave us a lot of social change. Some people thought it was enough and that the systemic racism in our nation was a thing of the past.
As I began to heal through recovery my life looked better, but there were still numerous places that still needed work. I will always need work. I will always be “in beta.”
I hope that our country will begin to heal soon. I hope that we will take an honest look, rather than an antagonistic look, at the issues that still abound. I hope that we will all act in love. Because u til we do, it will be difficult to…
— Rise Up!!
Minister Of Mocha 