Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Boy - it's been a while since I posted but here's one.

With all the convention and political posturing going on, it might be nice to reflect a bit on some other important things to think about.

Regardless of how you feel about the various sides to the story, people are getting killed. Cops, Citizens, Good Guys, Bad Guys..............lots of bad things happening. If you're a caring person, despite whatever your political and social leanings may be, you should be saddened by all of this and sincerely hope that solutions can be found that will stop the madness.

Cops exist because bad people exist and, without them, we would quickly lose all semblances of a safe society. They risk their lives to protect ours and, while yes some may be poorly trained, too quick on the trigger, or hot headed, most aren't. I do believe that the things that have happened recently justifiably alter their demeanor a bit and, at the minimum, make them more cautions when dealing with any situation.

We also should be able to agree that you don't kill people just because they may back talk, or fail to comply by reacting with non-life threatening resistance. Restraint is an important human characteristic and one which we all need to practice. I'm not advocating letting people off the hook for criminal acts, but rather gauging our reactions to those acts in a manner commensurate with their severity. Another characteristic is empathy - both from and towards the police. The importance of maintaining a civilized reaction to any encounter with law enforcement can't be over emphasized - they are doing a job that benefits us all so help, don't hinder their attempts to do so.

Anyway, that's my thought for the day.