Forgive the White Racist Shooters?

I saw a post today that asked if the black community should stop forgiving white racists (as victims' families did publicly in the wake of South Carolina).

We might first remember that forgiveness is not a selfless act that absolves someone of any wrongdoing.  It's a selfish act that allows the forgiver to love again.  Holding resentment, consternation, contempt, disapproval (judgment), or hatred in one's heart lessens, weakens, sickens the person with those feelings.  Forgiving, real forgiveness (not saying it or wanting to forgive, or saying "It's OK" or any other equivocation) allows a person to proceed with a clear, unfettered, or conflated agenda of rational action.  Forgiveness lets someone love again...not just the ability to love the person being forgiven, but to love at all.  Someone clouded with hatred, even a little, can no longer love unconditionally.  Try to love someone deeply while thinking about that which you hate.  Sort of tough, huh?  I can imagine the mental gymnastics someone would be able to perform and do it -- schizophrenia level.  Forgiveness, like contempt or hate, does nothing for they who wrong you.  It only works its magic (or poison) in you.

Anyone who's ever felt the palpable lifting of a burden when they've actually forgiven a major transgression against them knows what I'm talking about.  If you haven't, this might not resonate.  That's OK.  I wouldn't wish that sort of thing on anyone.

So my answer is, if a person can find a path to honest and complete forgiveness, take it.  It's not like you can forget the hurt or pain that was caused.  But if you're lucky, you can avoid multiplying it by finding a way to forgive.

War Death Perspective

If the same percentage of the population of the United States that were killed in the Civil War were compared with today's population, the death toll would be 5,500,000.

The number lost in 911 was around 3000, or 1/20th of 1 percent of the Civil War casualty rate.  If we add Iraq and Afghanistan, that's another 6700 (or another 1/10th of 1 percent of the Civil War rate).

So for all three, close to 1/5 of 1% of the Civil War.  One fifth of one percent.

And for all that, for those who lost a loved one, it's as bad as it could possibly be for those.  How many of us even KNOW a single person who was killed in one of the last wars.  Being a former military officer, I do know some of the dead casually, but no close friends during the last couple wars.

If each of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan was close to 50 unique people, then that brings the total close friends or relatives that have experienced war loss to 10%.  We're more connected that in the civil war, but if each of the dead were close to 20 people in the Civil War, 40% lost someone close to them. 1 in 10 versus 4/10 makes a big difference in the national sentiment.

Uploading Your Consciousness into a Computer: Alt-you

OK, so if it could be done, the problem would be that there would be 2 "yous."  The original -- you sitting there with all your memories and thoughts hooked up to some kind of brain-copy machine.  And then there would be Alt-you, on the computer.  Assuming you could copy but not just cut & paste.

So, as you sit there, the Alt-you could, for all intents and purposes, act and think as you do/would, and if it were then in a robot or somehow then reprogrammed into the Alt-you human brain, two people, you and him.

So, the one made immortal at that point would be the other one, and you'd be sitting here in with your individual unique consciousness, still watching this other person/entity, who may be very much like you, but is not you, because you're still there, in your head.  And you'd be seriously jealous, because as you continue to deteriorate and die, he/she'd be out there living their new and continued life!  They could even do your job and be the parent of your children and the excellent spouse you are to your life partner!  And you'd again, be watching as the outside person.  You'd have the peace of mind, I guess, that Alt-you would be the same as you to everyone else in the world, and could continue being you to everybody.  But again, it's the other you, and there's no way to get this current you outside your head and into any other consciousness, is there?  As intimately as you are connected to your own neurons, those are the ones that make  you feel like you with your own memories and consciousness.  And you'd still die, just like you would have had you not uploaded yourself into Alt-you.

And the new you that you had thought you would become would be Alt-you's (Alt-yours?).  To the world, you could almost be considered to become immortalized, but to you, yourself, sayonara!

But, brain transplant -- taking your brain and putting it into some healthy new body or fully hooked-up, robotic brain-vessel.  I suppose that's the better route, right?  Because then, it's still be the original you in there.  That'd be good.  Until you were finally ready to let go and surrender.

Police are Human. But Good Humans, please.

Police need to be better (on the average) than the people they're arresting, right?  They should, on the average, be a better behaved than normal folks while on the job, exercising the public trust to enforce the law.  When off the job, they should be like us, but still not criminal.  "Oh, you're doing 75 in a 65?  Yeah, well, no problem."  But if you're going to wear the badge, you can't be committing felonies, stalking people, abusing your families, going off the deep end.  We need emotionally healthy people exercising power over others.

So, if they commit an honest error and maintained their and the perp's dignity, and are like, "My bad,"  we should be like, "No, I got you, man."  But when they are arrogant, scofflaw-ish, thuggish, or negligent, we should be rightfully, "Oh no you didn't!"  On duty, they need to be held to higher standards than the civilians.

How does a police officer act to the suspect who doesn't answer questions?  Well, of course they're not going to like it because it gets in the way of their doing the job.  How should I act to the police officer who does not offer and does not answer when asked why I'm being pulled over or detained?  When I heard the tape today of a black man being pulled over and asking why he was being detained over and over again, only to be met with silence, I can no longer be on the side of this officer.  I WANT to be on the side of the police!  I WANT to believe that the police officer was being a good, honest person like me!  A trustworthy and effective law enforcement program make me feel safe and protected from those who would do me harm.  Anything that puts that into jeopardy makes me want to prepare to take my protection on myself, get a gun, and makes me skittish if I'm ever pulled over for some minor infraction (like jaywalking or taillight).

Partial Water Solution -- Start from basic rights.

From a residential standpoint, can we start by agreeing on a minimal amount each person needs for basic living?  Say, 3 flushes, 5 gallons for shower, 2 gallons for cooking, 5 gallons for cleaning, 5 gallons per week to wash clothes.  Whatever it is, for every man, woman, and child in a household, that should be granted for a flat and affordable, administrative fee (the water itself, free). Say $5 a month?  $10.  For every gallon after that, you pay a higher rate up to double the average usage amount.  When you hit triple, you pay a way higher rate.  Quadruple, way higher. If you want to use 10 times the amount of water a person needs to live a reasonable, basically hygienic life, you need to pay whatever it takes to provide the additional infrastructure (water, energy to move or process it, additional through-put, administer, etc.)

So if you just can't do without your own swimming pool, fine.  But you're going to pay for that luxury.  You want a big yard that sucks water?  You pay more.  You want to provide some of your produce from your garden and fruit from your trees?  Fine, you pay more.  You want to wash your car at home?  Pay for it.

That way, people who are saving absolutely, not compared to some arbitrary "historical usage" or whatever other unit not based on the human right to water, That way, the homeowners are incentivized to conserve or literally pay for the infrastructure to produce more fresh water for luxurious purposes.  And the economically struggling are not gouged.  The conservative minded can spend their money on other luxuries, like travel, solar panels, etc.

Egregious Rush To Judgment

Egregious rush to judgment?

Tell that to the black men killed by police who have immediately judged and killed them on the street.  Are you trying to tell me there wasn't enough evidence to bring the officers up on charges?

Please.  Who are you trying to convince?  "... for something that my simply be negligence?"  Please.  I can't even hear you when you say that.  It fails the reasonable man (person) theory.  You are clearly being political.

Suppression and Its Devastating and Inexorable Effects

When a human experiences a severe trauma while young, it will manifest itself in unpredictable ways, but it will.  PTSD is real and almost always negative, frequently severely debilitating.  There is no ignoring it.  We're still learning how to treat this disorder, but it seems addressing the root cause is critical, as well as managing the symptoms and destructive damaging behaviors.

A country or a people is the same way.  When it has undergone serious trauma, like Slavery and the Civil War which sought to end it, the healing is going to be a long-term endeavor, and not directly dealing with the deep wounds requires taking an unflinching look at the lacerations and inflammation is not enough, just as in a physical injury.  Risk of infection exists with the potential to deeply harm the nation.  I believe inadequate healing is what we are suffering from, and any denial will leave diseased tissue.  It requires a solution that, like a general antibiotic that travels throughout the whole organism, it heals the infection nation-wide.

Maybe someone wants to develop a cancer analogy that works.  But the unrest in and around the country are, in my view, a natural flare up from a function of our inability to truly look at who we are as a nation, what we've done to wrong ourselves, and do what it really takes to return to full "mental" health as a nation.

We are suffering because we have continued to impose suffering on sectors of our population, and the protests are a natural expression of pain.  We know it's there, and it's not going away until we, all of us, bring our full resources to bear.