THE IMPORTANCE OF WHAT

     What a mixed bag we have in trying to decide what is important in life. What is it that we have to know and what is it that we have to do.  I have to say that sometimes looking in the paper is not going to help or at best will give you a skewed picture for an answer.
     Ask the average American a question about a story that has caught their interest in recent days and you will hear all about the split of Jolie and Pitt and custody issues for their children. Can we do anything about this? No. Will we pay the lawyers of either side? No. Do we have any say or sway on the outcome? No. So why is this the first topic that comes up?
     People have a survival technique and that is to avoid the serious issues. Who will be our next president? How will the world cope with it? Are we to ignore the statements of world leaders about the possibilities? How did we get into this situation and why is it that truth and information is demanded of only one side and the other is allowed to just go on? Why is one called a liar and the other, a consummate liar, is never called on his lies. And why is it that the media did not pick up on this man's issues sooner? Why? Because they treated it as a joke and yet the joke is now on us.
     Then we have the stories of athletes "taking a knee" when the national anthem is being played, something I find truly offensive, particularly when it is this class of people who are doing the specific action, a group not known for model behavior. Would that someone were to tell me that the athletes have decided to turn over new leaves, stop the drugs, stop the partying, stop the outlandish salary demands, stop the domestic violence that has engulfed so many, stop their conspicuous consumption. But no, it is only on one issue and I find that it simply exacerbates the whole thing.
     What needs to be done is to educate, educate and educate yet again. What needs to be done is to look into life as it is and see the progress that has been made and see the elected officials of all colors, races, creeds and religion. See the intermixed couples. See people talking with each other, becoming social friends. See the good that we have and not just the bad.
     See the stress that the police are under and see the fear that is real. Do they take a chance or play the safer route. Are they too quick on the gun or has it now become an impossible situation where even an armed suspect is magically enclosed in an "you can't shoot me" bubble. And why is there so much violence and gun play? It is within our culture, engrained with movies, false macho posturing and false reasoning that a gun will make one better than another, that violence will be the winner and that violence can be one sided. I do not know where this ends, this violence that has gripped the nation, besieged all of us, police or civilian and the inappropriate actions that have been taken so far.
     What I do know is that our people need education and so do the uniformed services. We also need to recognize that there are rotten apples in every barrel and we do not blame all the apples nor do we throw them all out. Education, education and trust developing tactics. That is the way to go, not indicating that one is ashamed of one's country or demeans it. We have had enough of that and we have enough of ridicule when the world looks at the Trump candidacy and wonders why America is behaving like a Third World country just learning about democracy.
     Hatred is contagious. Today most of the world is engaged in violence, going to the lowest common denominator. We no longer look to commonality but rather to differences, down to family and clan against family and clan, sect against sect and all other divisions. What is the matter with us? Where did we go wrong or is it that we never have truly advanced very far?
     I cannot accept that reasoning for then the world is filled with despair and we might as well just shut up shop, lock the door and all become survivalists. Yes, I despair at some of the wrong turns that we have all made. I despair at the rising anti Semitism and its virulence. I worry that our kids now have  a hard time, even physically, on the college campus. I wonder where we are going with this and yet there are voices raised and as long as there are those brave voices crying out for justice, for thought rather than violence, for commonality rather than differences, for true help for people and not stealing their money and boasting about it - as long as that is still there, there is still hope.
     So Brangelina or not, we need to look at the hard stuff and not get our heads in the sand of nonsense or topics which are beyond even tertiary importance. Mustard gas on our troops from ISIS, terrorists roaming around within our country and how to find them, making choices, taking a step in the right direction, voting rather than staying home for an absent vote is a vote for Trump and for disaster as is a third party "I'll show you" vote.
     Yes, enjoy life but also take it seriously for if not we are all truly lost. The importance of what - you choose.