What life altering experiences can a
person have in three and a half minutes?
Can you start and run a successful business? Can you fall in love? Write the Great American Novel? Invent the next killer app or miracle cure?
No, great achievement requires time. However, lives can be
destroyed in a matter of moments. In the
space of few minutes you can say those ill chosen words that cost you a career
or the love of your life. In the space
of a few seconds you can push the plunger on a syringe or swallow the pills
that obliterate life. A moment’s
carelessness can blow up a factory or kill dozens on the highway.
Such is the case in Ferguson,
Missouri. Within the space of three and
a half minutes, two young men made tragic decisions and took irreversible actions
that cost the life of one, tore apart a community, polarized an already
overstressed nation and will have untold but severe and lifelong consequences
for the other.
I use the words “young men” as a formality. From my venerable perspective they are still
both boys, younger than my eldest son and still finding their footing in an
uncertain world. This makes it all the
more sad thinking that either could be my kids.
Like my sons, they are neither demons nor saints. Both are kids given to
impulsivity and rashness and prone to ill judgment in moments of pressure.
Michael Brown was slated to begin
college the week following his death and had no prior criminal record. If he were my son, I would be proud that he made
it through high school with a clean record and was on track to productive
future.
Brown’s first life altering decision
of the day was made about ten minutes before he was shot. What was he thinking when he robbed a local
C-Store of cheap cigars in broad daylight and in front of video surveillance
cameras? To make matters worse he
assaulted the store clerk on the way out.
Brown was a big guy in a small town.
I’ll bet everyone knew him. He
couldn’t hide.
In a moment’s time Brown made two poor
choices that may have postponed or even preempted his college education and
cost him any opportunity for a “good” job later in life.
Police Officer Darren Wilson is a 28
year old with a nice job, one that typically comes with decent pay, high job
security and good benefits. He was a lot
better off than many other people his age.
I think most of us would be proud to have him as a son, too.
Then in less than four minutes things
went horribly awry. What we know is that
Brown and his friend were walking in the middle street when Officer Wilson
asked them to move to the curb.
Somewhere between the time of that request and the death of Michael Brown,
that is three minutes, a lot of unfortunate decisions were made under duress. Investigators and grand jurors will sort the
sequence of events out.
Perhaps Brown was shaken up by what he
just did at the store moments ago and then panicked at sudden appearance of a
cop. Perhaps Officer Dawson was in over
his head in a one on one confrontation without backup. Perhaps Dawson simply acted in an instinctive
human mode of self preservation when confronted with an angry NFL sized adversary.
Maybe two young guys in a tense
situation misread each other and back up came a minute too late to mediate.
I do not believe that Michael Brown
got up that morning intending to embark on a minor crime spree. Nor do I believe that Officer Dawson woke up
that day intending to kill anyone. And I
do not believe for one minute that race played a role in a role in this simple tragedy
of human error.
The sad fact; however, is that human
error and stupidity are so mundane so as not to justify Federal intervention. Simple human error and stupidity do not whip
up the base. Human error and stupidity
cannot be legislated away.
Therefore for the media and political
class, simple but tragic human error and stupidity are not acceptable explanations. They need an exploitable platform to advance
their agendas and power bases. What they
are making of this tragedy is far worse than human error and stupidity. It is cold, calculated and cynical. It tears at the fabric of community and sets
people against one another.
When America needs prayer, forgiveness,
dialog and healing, the exploiter class leads us instead to heightened hatred,
mistrust and divisiveness.
To err is human. To forgive divine. To capitalize on tragedy is nothing short of diabolical.
Related
Posts:
“Why
Did You Make Sister Hit You?”
Who You Gonna
Call?
Cliven
Bundy – Sorting Through The Rubble
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Half the people are drowned and the other half are swimming in the wrong direction."
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Half the people are drowned and the other half are swimming in the wrong direction."
- Paul Simon
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