Protests

I knew it would happen.   At the beginning of the pandemic I figured that there would come a day when some people would lose their patience and would take to the streets.    And really, we all our losing it a little, aren’t we?  We want the end of self-distancing to be near, so we can resume a normal life. We want our country to be back ‘open’ with business as usual.

And, it’s not just because we miss our daily schedules with work and school and going shopping like we used to, but it’s because people are really financially hurting.   Employees have been laid off or let go.   Employers and employees are watching their savings get depleted, if they are lucky enough to have had some savings.  Others are going into debt because their small business was staying above board week to week.   Or, they were working a minimum wage job baring making it anyway.

Our government has sent out checks which will help – a little.   But it is certainly not a long term solution.  It’s a token.   It will help to pay a month’s rent, or some utility bills.   Hopefully it can provide food on some tables.

In these crazy times, when people are frustrated, and yes even getting mad, they protest.  In the past I have participated in protest, so yes, I get it.   I have gone out a few times in recent years holding my sign up to show my support for women’s rights and for gun control.    It’s a wonderful, legal American right to do – to be allowed to show up, and to speak up when something isn’t working the way you want it to work.

So, in the past couple of days I have seen on the news that organized protests are popping up in some major cities around our country.   I totally understand it.    I knew it would happen.

But the line is drawn when the respect for others goes away.   The line for me is drawn when I see intimidation used in the protests.   The fact that Ar-15’s are carried by some, and confederate flags are waved, is a terribly wrong attempt at trying to be tough and to want to be seen and heard.    It creates fear.  It divides even more.   It hurts the cause.   It is separatists finding a platform.    Yes, I want to say (I guess I am) that it seems this group acting all tough, like thugs, hurts their mission more than helps it.   Carrying guns and flags and yelling does NOT help anyone.    Even them.   They just don’t get it.

Protest – yes.     But do it right.     Act like grown-ups.      Be respectful.

Simple as that.         From the beginning of this pandemic we have known we have to work to rid The virus  together.   We can not only consider our personal freedoms right now.  We live here together.    Yes, America is about personal rights and freedoms but only when they don’t infringe on the rights and freedoms of others.   I believe too often the Amendments are used as a scapegoat for group responsibility and for caring for others. I don’t think the founders & writers knew it would be taken and used that way.   They lived in an America that was certainly not as complex as it is today.    They could not foresee everything we face now.    Technology, weaponry, communications, global economy  – all beyond what they thought ever possible.

Protests are still a good and fair right that we have.  I am truly glad they are.     But, only when they are peaceful and respectful.    Flashbacks to the 60’s – of sit-ins, and love fests, and anti-war and civil rights marches.    That was definitely a time of protest.  We all remember it as so.      We can do it again.      Together.     The right way.