While much of our social media is newly public and has limited audience. It’s public because there are things that should be said and while I posted a podcast on this already, some things should be shouted from the rooftop. Even if you’re rooftop isn’t at the top of a mountain. I tend to think of myself as pro-cop which is why I get so flustered when someone in one of their uniforms clearly disrespects someone based on the color of their skin, to the point they will callously take a life. This has got to stop one way or another and until the folks in blue do a better job of policing themselves before this heinous garbage happens, who knows what it will take.
It’s been a running confluence of reminders for me how long this wrong has rolled along challenged but never overcome. Just this week I saw Amistad on the tube; out of 16,000 songs to choose from on random my iPod played Nina Simone singing about Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi not realizing how much longer that list would get; watched the three day series on U.S. Grant and the struggle before, during and after the civil war; and on and on. And here we are again. Will things be different this time? I’ve nary a clue.
What I am nearly certain of is, you matter. Certainly, Your Life Matters! Regardless of your color, tone, geography, heritage, gender, pick whatever you want. Your worth is not measured by anyone else’s opinion based on any of those things including my opinion and including the opinion of anyone in a uniform. Sadly, there remain times when there are systemic issues of injustice and inequality in which people will have to stand up and say…my specific group matters too.
However this all turns out, don’t allow anyone to devalue who you are outside of who you choose to be. It’s the opinion of one dude who has the benefit of having worked with all kinds of people, you matter. Still just one dude’s opinion, but I’ll fight you over it. Those who judge in ignorance are what is “The Matter”. Never let them change your own opinion of yourself. Now do something that matters, maybe some of this will change.
*I swiped the above image off the internet willy-nilly cause I liked it and no copyright infringement is intended, any request from the owner to remove image will be heeded immediately.
