The American Dream in 2020

The American Dream in 2020

    It is helpful to be able to write and share feelings and facts during times of stress and pain. I would like to do so this, the last day of this unique May of this somewhat ominous year. I hope the month of May 2021 finds us in a much better place. Things could be worse.

    Stresses and huge concerns are prevalent throughout the country and the rest of the world this weekend. I will share a few things; I hope to assess and reflect on some important issues and matters that affect us. First, some global issues before I address the rest of the United States, the home to some 330 million of us 7 plus billion residents on the planet earth.

• A large locus infestation in east Africa ranging into Asia is causing immediate and future situations of extreme hunger and famine. At least 20 million people are in danger of serious food crisis.
• The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across most of the world. China claims that they have tamped it down and contained it to Wuhan province. The United States alone has lost over 100,000 people to it, Europe has lost many more, and some Asian countries like India and now large parts of Latin America is being hit hard by this deadly respiratory illness.
• Some wars continue across the globe, mostly in Arab places like Libya, Yemen, Syria. Afghanistan has continual what might be called civic violence that ends up killing many of their citizens weekly.
• The United States and most of its allies are at continual tension with China, Iran, North Korea, and to some degree Russia.
• Local, regional, and worldwide economies are suffering greatly because the shutdowns due to the pandemic that became very serious since middle March of this year, 2020. Bad economies mean people are at risk for hunger and other social maladies, including mental health problems becoming exacerbated.

    This past week a 46 year-old man in Minneapolis, Minnesota named George Floyd was pinned on the ground by a policeman and his cohorts while arrested for suspicion of a forfeit bill, and while put in too much physical stress while being detained and trying to explain his dire to the man who had him illegally pinned, he died, which was all captured on video/film and "blew up" through the media. The policeman, now the infamous long time law enforcement officer Derric Chauvin, and his three peers who also seemed to do nothing to prevent this senseless and tragic death, are now fired and in process of being charged for this egregious crime.
    Despite the wheels of justice marching on these ill-doers in Minnesota, who are paid professionals and should know better, thousands if not millions of demonstrators and protestors got on their feet, grabbed their horns and tools of protest, and went to the streets, many of them gathering at police stations, federal buildings and monuments, public parks or monuments, or strip malls and other public spaces. And things got ugly, way too ugly. I watched some of it on TV and followed other parts online and on my phone.

• Two Federal Protective Service workers attacked and injured in Oakland, California, one of the first nights of protests. One of them, a Homeland Security employee, died from his injuries. I ask all: what is his name? If it were a woman would we care more? #metoo, stop the harassment and violence against women? Amen! Do any of the righteously indignant protestors breaking curfews across our land care about him or his family? Is he just another first responder who is "paid to die"? Like a nurse or EMT or doctor with infected patients, we simply expect these workers to risk their lives and die with no call for concern? WHAT IS HIS NAME? Would George Floyd and his family want us to know? I hope so.
• A young man in Detroit is killed during the protests there late Friday night. Was it the police? No, it was some type of criminal or thugs that the police tried to save him from.
• Another young man in Indianapolis died last night. During protests. How does this happen? Are governors, mayors, police chiefs, Home Security officials, law enforcement and fire department personnel trying to stop the violence and mayhem? Yes, and now we have thousands, 13 thousand plus in Minnesota alone, activated to stop the madness. 
• Beyond Minnesota 9 other states have called up National Guardsmen to keep the peace, protect hard earned property of citizens and the save the lives of the people themselves.
• Over 1400 demonstrators arrested for excessive actions in the streets over the weekend.
• Approximately 170 businesses and structures looted, vandalized, and burned in Minneapolis alone.
• Protesting and rioting across dozens of American cities, scuffles and injuries sustained by citizens and law enforcement alike. The police and Guard and other security are following curfew and other protective measures decreed by their bosses and elected authorities. They are paid to uphold the law in regular times, they respond to increased threats in abnormal times. This is what they do. This is their role, responsibility, and duty. God bless them. Some make mistakes and some end up being incompetent, but the grand majority keep the peace and prevent us from getting threatened, robbed, or worse.
• Major buildings in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia burn. Other structures across the country are damaged, broken and entered, looted, pillaged, burglarized, burned and desecrated. Thousands of people lose their place of livelihood and accrued wealth through an already hyper-stressed economic downturn, bordering economic and social crisis. Regular business owners and workers do not deserve to be victims of these protests, their whole lives invested in their crafts torched and snatched up over night. Burning down police stations? These are the men and women that keep us from dying and being assaulted in nightmare scenarios? Which dream are we living? Give them and us a chance, like the court system that will prosecute Officer Chavin.
• Dozens of police vehicles and other privately owned cars and trucks attacked, smashed, and burned. Does this adequately address the question of police brutality? What? Take out your anger and aggression in more positive ways! What American dream are you attempting to live?
• Words are shared and proclaimed across all platforms, including this one, a blog. Some invectives are uttered , some wise words are offered . I really liked Brandon Tatum from Tuscon, Arizona. Many smart and wise people are trying to respond to this situation. Listen to them. Heed their counsel.
• Black lives matter. We need to let each other breathe. When hands are up, don't shoot. Don't be a punk and hurl bottles or rocks at the law enforcement when the peaceful protestors are shielding you. Cowardly punks, hoodlums, and thugs. Those words or labels are not racially charged. Those are accurate interpretations of a bad human and his/her behavior, nothing to do with the color of skin. Similar to labeling a crooked, corrupt, bully, or excessively forceful law enforcement official, or cop. Respect their authority until that particular one does the wrong thing. I understand many feel threatened by them all. They are principled and good in grand majority. Give them the benefit of the doubt, as they will for you.

     The American Dream: Work hard and prosper 

      I will finish this article, this report, this screed-like rant, if you will.

    

     We as Americans are extremely privileged to live in a country where we can be free and taxed to support things for the benefit of ourselves and for the rest of society. We work for our own livelihoods and savings, doing what we can to get by, and even prosper as individuals and families and groups, including corporations and agencies. Many people in our nation have suffered from multi-generational poverty, which is a severe problem. People of color, in particular, have had many uphill battles to achieve a level of decent life; the white majority of the population recognizes that. There are always some idiots who hate, no matter their ethnic background or socio-economic class. However, as a white man, of a economic class that others have contributed to but now is on me and my loved ones to maintain or grow, allow me to explain that no matter what color you are, we all try to play and work by the same rules and succeed. We try to be fair and help others, the grand majority of us. We vote our consciences and continue to work, both paid and unpaid labor, for the good of one and all. We drive our vehicles and follow the rules in order for all of us to arrive safely at our respective destinations. A metaphor, yes, but I believe it is very apt.

    We follow the rule of law and respect the granted civil and political authorities for the good of ourselves and all others. We pull off the road and cede space to ambulances and firetrucks when they are in go mode because the life they save right this second might be us tomorrow. We respect the police and medical personnel, to include military, because they also protect and save us, every shift they put their uniforms on. People in uniforms? Heroes. Even the local security person at the car lot deserves our utmost respect and esteem. There is a reason he is there. Security exists for real reasons, because the alternative of absence of such people, with weapons, keeping the peace, is much worse.

   I pray that all of us realize our blessings and recognize our collective and individual opportunities to get ahead, learn, save money, invest, live freely, contribute to yourself and others, enjoy life. It is not always fair or just, I get it. No matter who we are, black or white, male or female, young or old, English speaking or Spanish or other, athletically or academically gifted or not, we all are in this together. We are here to help and abide by each other. We all pay it differently, but we are all equal as people with different circumstances.

   Last pleas: do not take from others what they have worked for. Do not destroy their labors and dreams, do not threaten them with loss of property or life. Obey the law, respect authority, and do better at living with and enabling all people of all backgrounds to live the American dream. Things are not perfect in our country in 2020, I know, but we have perfect opportunities to make our lives prosperous and good. Born short or in a way that seems unfair? Overcome it. Born with a health or bodily defect? Overcome it. Born with an obsessive/compulsive nature or other mental issue? Deal with it and overcome those disabilities. Born poor? Born in a family with addictions and violence? Born with parents that do not value you or support you, that abuse you? Overcome it, outlast it, keep going. A better life awaits. I have seen it over and over again in the United States and elsewhere.

  

   The American dream is all up to you, it is all up to us. We can protest peacefully, as Martin Luther King urged and preached. Let us not spit on and disregard those that try to uphold it, throwing away the American dream, as some paid authorities have done, and some street punks have decided to do. Wisdom and foolishness have no color, we all bleed the same, even those outside our borders.

Thanks for being responsible and thanks for caring. Don't quit.