Utash, Hughes, Jackson & Sharpton

I know that the world is changing.  I can feel it and I can see it.  It reveals itself in so many stories from so many sources.  It is inescapable.

I know that the world is changing and I am not smart enough to know into what exactly though it is likely not very good.  I’m not sure that I would want to know even if I could.  Would you?

I see and feel that the world is changing and I know that I am no longer young enough to do much about it.

But is that really true?

I believe that there is a certain amount of goodness and a certain amount of badness in this world.  I call it badness because as a counter to evil the word “good” just doesn’t seem to cut it.  But I believe there are finite amounts of each at any given moment and that while it can be changed it cannot be changed all that much in a short amount of time.  The armies are massed and the battle lines drawn.  The outcome is not necessarily a given though.

Or is it?

I believe that in this day and age the dark forces have been emboldened and are stepping en masse out from the shadows.  And with that stepping out, the forces for good have stepped back in.  The balance has shifted and it has not shifted in our favor my friends.

Doubt this?  Okay.  But rather than attempt to list the reasons why I am right can you simply give me the reasons why I am not?  Please, I’m listening.

Too many good people have just given up.  They have either been worn down or exhausted or just don’t care much anymore.  And with each ounce of good that retreats more than an ounce of bad advances.  I believe that.  Just look at a mob beating as it serves as an easily accessible reminder that you can view more and more often these days.

Just look at what happened to Steve Utash.

Someone who is a better position to provide a comment on what happened has to tell me what that man did to deserve the beating that he received.  In fact, when does anyone deserve such a beating?  And our present and supposed forces for good would, hell, do, openly, loudly, and repeatedly decry such things like the evils of our advanced interrogation techniques and label them disgustedly as torture.  On this other thing though they remain silent.

It is not a black on black crime.

It is not a Latino on Latino crime.

It is not a Latino on black crime.

It is not a black on Latino crime.

It is not a white on black crime.

It is not any of these that receive at least some media coverage, some liberal outrage, or some street marches as led by the spectres portrayed by those long-time players Jackson and Sharpton.

Where, oh where, are those good right reverends in this case?

Silent.  Back in the shadows.  Bad rarely advances to confront bad in cases such as this.

No, this is a simple crime of black on white.  Many blacks on one white.  And no matter what the supposed reason for the reaction it is clear that what happened was an accident and in the process of trying to do the right thing this white man was savagely attacked and is now in a coma.

While there may have been high emotions due to the fact that a young boy was hit by a truck, accidentally, and the group of thugs (can I say that without being considered racist?…okay, so I will call them assailants instead, is that okay?) is it true to say that the man driving the truck was beaten simply because of the color of his skin?

There are different colors of skin in the world are there not?  Or does white skin only count when it is reported as being on the wrong or presently unpopular side of the issue?

If you disagree then that is your right of course.  And you are more than likely a racist in the full and horrible true fashion of the word.  Hate is hate.  Bad is bad.  Wrong is wrong.  Evil is evil.  Don’t matter where; don’t matter who.

So into the midst of all this madness, hatred, and racism steps an older black woman.  And this brave and courageous woman manages somehow to stop the beating.  There are almost no words that can describe my own personal admiration for this woman.  I don’t know what she thinks of white people but I see what she thinks of human beings.

The armies are massed and the battle lines drawn.  From out of the shadows emerges both good and bad, in constant battle for control of this world.  It is bad, it is indeed evil, that is the bolder and lately much more prevalent of the two forces.  And it is winning, I fear, and the good is in retreat.

I read a good bit of history and realize that battles, and ultimately wars themselves, can turn on a single event, can change with the heroic or simple but timely action of the few; or just the one.

How much time there is left for man may well depend on such courage and actions as exhibited by one solitary woman.  I wonder though just how many more of Deborah Hughes’ make-up and mettle are out there, out of the shadows and into the light.  Woman or man.  Black or white.  Rich or poor.  Tall or short, fat or thin, young or old- Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist…   Human.

I wonder.