Sunday Musings - May 22, 2022
This past week I drove from Wheeling, WV to Tulsa, Oklahoma, a distance of nearly 1000 miles. During the drive I had the luxury of listening to a lot of talk radio. As is frequently my habit, I attempted to listen with an open mind and heart to those whose opinions are often an anathema to me which includes those who manage to align their religious beliefs (often Christian in the United States) with the far right, conspiracy theorists who seem to neatly divide the world into us and them. I listen because I know that I need, if possible, to discern the underlying fears and dreams of those who are often responsible for what seem to me to be newly minted laws or dusted off laws designed to limit the rights of “them”. The “them” seems to be anyone who thinks, looks or act differently. More specifically the “them” are those whose color, sexual orientation, views on when a fetus becomes human, knowledge of history, mental health or power status falls outside certain parameters.
I also listened to discussions about so called police reform, the homeless situation in the United States, CEO salaries, the profit margins of oil and gas companies in 2022, the shortage of available baby formula in the United States, the fear of teaching racial history, and concerns of young children about gender and sexual identity.
Many of those to whom I listened were very articulate and presented arguments to those who are fearful of losing their comfortable identify as white, heterosexual, God fearing, middle class, and who want to make America great again for their number.
I arrived in Tulsa with more questions than answers. These questions include:
o Does anyone win if history is denied or if one teaches only slices of history?
o How can one learn from history if it is not taught?
o What do we expect from police? What is the job of police? To serve and protect? To identify and arrest those who break minor laws and to ignore those who find ways to use the law to acutely traumatize and otherwise abuse others.
o Why is the person who steals to support an addiction a criminal and the CEO of Abbott laboratories who makes over $22, 000,000.00 a year while charging nearly or over $40.00 per can of baby formula not a criminal? Could we ask the same about the profit margin of pharmaceutical companies or the increase of the profit margin of oil companies in 2022 when gas prices at the pump are helping to strangle the budget of the average person in the US.
o Why are so many homeless in the United States? Why do some want to criminalize sleeping or lying on sidewalks? (9th circuit court has decided one cannot criminalize people resting when there is a shortage of shelters.)
o How is it possible that pornography is such a profitable business?
o How is it possible that child pornography is so profitable? Should communities criminalize the use of such material or explore why so many are attracted to it?
o Do we want to redefine the role of police in the community and the training we give them? Is their job to get citizens the help they need or create the illusion that they are protecting by criminalizing mental illness and hopelessness?
o If we say we believe all life is sacred, should we provide the means for the health of parents and children?
o Should the death penalty be outlawed?
o Are both the political right and the left, the progressives and the conservatives, the democrats and the republicans guilty of creating us and them divisions?
o What is so frightening about same sex behavior?
o How much courage does it take to face and deal with one’s gender identity issues?
The answers to these and related questions will determine what is being taught, what the students learn and whether we in the United States sincerely make progress in creating a country which walks the talk in becoming a country which strives toward freedom and justice for all; a country where we are humble and brave enough to face the positive and negative parts of our history, embrace all our citizens, keep religion out of the body politic, treat the mentally ill, and take each other’s fears, joys, heartaches, hopes and dreams seriously.
Written May 22, 2022
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
(fiance.yahoo.com;www1.salary.com;oxford dictionary)
This past week I drove from Wheeling, WV to Tulsa, Oklahoma, a distance of nearly 1000 miles. During the drive I had the luxury of listening to a lot of talk radio. As is frequently my habit, I attempted to listen with an open mind and heart to those whose opinions are often an anathema to me which includes those who manage to align their religious beliefs (often Christian in the United States) with the far right, conspiracy theorists who seem to neatly divide the world into us and them. I listen because I know that I need, if possible, to discern the underlying fears and dreams of those who are often responsible for what seem to me to be newly minted laws or dusted off laws designed to limit the rights of “them”. The “them” seems to be anyone who thinks, looks or act differently. More specifically the “them” are those whose color, sexual orientation, views on when a fetus becomes human, knowledge of history, mental health or power status falls outside certain parameters.
I also listened to discussions about so called police reform, the homeless situation in the United States, CEO salaries, the profit margins of oil and gas companies in 2022, the shortage of available baby formula in the United States, the fear of teaching racial history, and concerns of young children about gender and sexual identity.
Many of those to whom I listened were very articulate and presented arguments to those who are fearful of losing their comfortable identify as white, heterosexual, God fearing, middle class, and who want to make America great again for their number.
I arrived in Tulsa with more questions than answers. These questions include:
o Does anyone win if history is denied or if one teaches only slices of history?
o How can one learn from history if it is not taught?
o What do we expect from police? What is the job of police? To serve and protect? To identify and arrest those who break minor laws and to ignore those who find ways to use the law to acutely traumatize and otherwise abuse others.
o Why is the person who steals to support an addiction a criminal and the CEO of Abbott laboratories who makes over $22, 000,000.00 a year while charging nearly or over $40.00 per can of baby formula not a criminal? Could we ask the same about the profit margin of pharmaceutical companies or the increase of the profit margin of oil companies in 2022 when gas prices at the pump are helping to strangle the budget of the average person in the US.
o Why are so many homeless in the United States? Why do some want to criminalize sleeping or lying on sidewalks? (9th circuit court has decided one cannot criminalize people resting when there is a shortage of shelters.)
o How is it possible that pornography is such a profitable business?
o How is it possible that child pornography is so profitable? Should communities criminalize the use of such material or explore why so many are attracted to it?
o Do we want to redefine the role of police in the community and the training we give them? Is their job to get citizens the help they need or create the illusion that they are protecting by criminalizing mental illness and hopelessness?
o If we say we believe all life is sacred, should we provide the means for the health of parents and children?
o Should the death penalty be outlawed?
o Are both the political right and the left, the progressives and the conservatives, the democrats and the republicans guilty of creating us and them divisions?
o What is so frightening about same sex behavior?
o How much courage does it take to face and deal with one’s gender identity issues?
The answers to these and related questions will determine what is being taught, what the students learn and whether we in the United States sincerely make progress in creating a country which walks the talk in becoming a country which strives toward freedom and justice for all; a country where we are humble and brave enough to face the positive and negative parts of our history, embrace all our citizens, keep religion out of the body politic, treat the mentally ill, and take each other’s fears, joys, heartaches, hopes and dreams seriously.
Written May 22, 2022
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
(fiance.yahoo.com;www1.salary.com;oxford dictionary)
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