We got to do something - We got to vote - finding hope

Watching history unfold on a daily basis is quite unsettling.  I got an alarm on my phone last night that there was a mandatory curfew set for the whole city.  I had spent the day outside and wasn't aware of the violence going on in the city. We have been through the whole closing down for Covid-19 and no curfew but suddenly a curfew.

You can look at this as part of the sad times we live in or you can realize that this is happening because people are getting tired of the blatant injustice towards anyone not white. Only when people get outraged and vocal do things even begin to change. Unfortunately the destruction of property gets our attention even though some might see this reaction as uncivilized and the police action as warranted. There is no winning either way. 

The truth is that people have to get mad enough to make a stand. We all have prejudice beneath our skin past down from our upbringing.  I think this is true for all colors. In our household we loved Jesus and Jesus loved everyone so I wasn't exposed to any kind of hate but we moved from the city because it was safer in the suburbs.

My uncle a deputy sheriff didn't see things the way Jesus saw them.  Besides his day job he worked at mostly gay bars as a bouncer back in the day. He also worked at the jail and was written up in the paper for apprehending with force an prisoner trying to escape. He would often say "it is either them or us".  My parents kept us away him as much as possible. Ironically he spent the last decade of his life working in Mormon Temple wearing special robes a far cry from his bouncer days.

What is happening in our country is part of the evolution that has to take place to move forward. People have to get mad enough to start to participate in choosing our leadership. Right now with the pandemic still on the move we all feel like we are waking up from a winter slumber but life goes on and things haven't really changed. 

We are a narcissistic society and if it isn't happening to us or ours we mostly sit on the sidelines and watch until someone gets truly outraged and violence erupts. Then we stop for a moment in shock and then go about our daily business. 

Things are changing with every passing year.  What we are seeing now especially in the White House is the last futile effort to hold on to what use to be when the white men ran the world and no one could do anything about it. Even at the height of that time change happened we all just kept chipping away at the status quo and things are better. 

It will never be enough as long as humans are in charge. I saw a study done where they proved instinctively we are made to trust people that look like us over people that don't. Beginning in a time where this was the only way we could protect ourselves from other tribes. Worldwide the people that are persecuted are people that can be easily identified by physical characteristics. Wars and genocide between people who once lived together peacefully.

In our country we can't seem to get through to people that voting is our most powerful tool.  The local races do mean something and minority voters have enough votes to change the outcome. Sitting on the couch watching the news makes us feel helpless and saying "what can one person do?" 

What can we do if we can't protest besides vote.  We can't treat each person we meet everyday with respect and kindness showing that one on one we are all just people wanting our best life and a good life for the people we love. We can push evolution forward one person at a time.