Dear V & E - things are not going well.
There's the Syrian war, which has made life almost impossible for millions. People fleeing the war are drowning by the thousands in the Mediterranean on flimsy rafts trying to reach Europe - tricked by traffickers of their last bits of money and then their lives. Car bombs in Baghdad killed over 200 people on a single day. The shooter in Orlando. The truck in Nice today. Police killings blacks and then the killing of police by a black man in Dallas.
Are things unraveling - and we don't know - like the frog in the science experiment? Or are we overreacting - with a myopic lack of a sense of history? There have surely been far worse times before, even in my lifetime. We hear that this current age is the most peaceful in the entire history of human existence. True - but is that changing?
Elie Wiesel who died a few days ago famously said: We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
There's the Syrian war, which has made life almost impossible for millions. People fleeing the war are drowning by the thousands in the Mediterranean on flimsy rafts trying to reach Europe - tricked by traffickers of their last bits of money and then their lives. Car bombs in Baghdad killed over 200 people on a single day. The shooter in Orlando. The truck in Nice today. Police killings blacks and then the killing of police by a black man in Dallas.
Are things unraveling - and we don't know - like the frog in the science experiment? Or are we overreacting - with a myopic lack of a sense of history? There have surely been far worse times before, even in my lifetime. We hear that this current age is the most peaceful in the entire history of human existence. True - but is that changing?
Elie Wiesel who died a few days ago famously said: We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
But do we have the wisdom to know which side we must take? Is it a complete cop-out to say something like "I take the side of humanity". Will more guns make us safer? More wars? More racism?
Should we stop living our normal lives? Stop dropping you off at camps for privileged children. Don't go to the gym. Eschew unsustainable overpriced organic produce at Whole Foods. Turn down a nice glass of wine. Not read you a good book at night.
So I wrote the first part of this post a couple of evenings ago. Then I slept on things - uneasily. Yesterday Evan and I spent the evening together. We started at the Hawaiian shaved ice place at the corner. I said "Pick three flavors". He hesitated and then said:
"Lemon"
"Lemonade"
"Lime"
And he happily slurped on it while we walked to Ramsey pool. We spent almost two hours in the pool. Then we walked back home and drove to my favorite hole-in-the-wall pho joint. We shared a large bowl of pho with brisket, eye round steak, and tendons and slurped every last bit of noodle and broth down. The evening recharged my batteries. Evan was in full swing the whole time - being funny and engaging and positive (his turdy cynical double never made an appearance).
Last evening our friends went to the Black Lives Matter protest here in Austin. We talked a bit about it this morning. Which got me to think again - what can I do? I realized that I don't have many black men friends or even acquaintances (actually only three - two people I play soccer with, and one a dad of Evan's classmate). And in Austin I have a very limited number of muslim friends. How do I change that? Should I?
Along different lines, how about a version of the Gandhian civil disobedience movement. What if a large number of people from various races and ethnicities drove around with a broken taillight (a BLM sticker that covers one taillight)? Would that result in better broken taillight stops for all?
This morning I ran to the gym, worked out with Jen, and then ran back. It's only about a mile away, but I was surprised by the number of very cheerful hello's. An APD cruiser even slowed down and the cop and I exchanged minimal waves. Then I realized that with my really short haircut people are being nice to the black man running through a predominantly non-black neighborhood. I have helped improve race relations in this little corner of the world without meaning to.
Should we stop living our normal lives? Stop dropping you off at camps for privileged children. Don't go to the gym. Eschew unsustainable overpriced organic produce at Whole Foods. Turn down a nice glass of wine. Not read you a good book at night.
So I wrote the first part of this post a couple of evenings ago. Then I slept on things - uneasily. Yesterday Evan and I spent the evening together. We started at the Hawaiian shaved ice place at the corner. I said "Pick three flavors". He hesitated and then said:
"Lemon"
"Lemonade"
"Lime"
And he happily slurped on it while we walked to Ramsey pool. We spent almost two hours in the pool. Then we walked back home and drove to my favorite hole-in-the-wall pho joint. We shared a large bowl of pho with brisket, eye round steak, and tendons and slurped every last bit of noodle and broth down. The evening recharged my batteries. Evan was in full swing the whole time - being funny and engaging and positive (his turdy cynical double never made an appearance).
Last evening our friends went to the Black Lives Matter protest here in Austin. We talked a bit about it this morning. Which got me to think again - what can I do? I realized that I don't have many black men friends or even acquaintances (actually only three - two people I play soccer with, and one a dad of Evan's classmate). And in Austin I have a very limited number of muslim friends. How do I change that? Should I?
Along different lines, how about a version of the Gandhian civil disobedience movement. What if a large number of people from various races and ethnicities drove around with a broken taillight (a BLM sticker that covers one taillight)? Would that result in better broken taillight stops for all?
This morning I ran to the gym, worked out with Jen, and then ran back. It's only about a mile away, but I was surprised by the number of very cheerful hello's. An APD cruiser even slowed down and the cop and I exchanged minimal waves. Then I realized that with my really short haircut people are being nice to the black man running through a predominantly non-black neighborhood. I have helped improve race relations in this little corner of the world without meaning to.
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