I don’t accept the “New Normal”

I was part of a Facebook group, until very recently, that was focused on Las Vegas Veterans. It was supposed to be about helping people and giving an outlet to Vets who needed help or wanted to help. Monday, when I quit the group, there was a post referring to Hillary Clinton not being charged in the e-mail scandal and it said “... the fix is in The FBI has caved in to the political pressure from the Establishment. Our only hope is that members of the American Military will remember their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign AND DOMESTIC!"  Now today we have a Veteran who may have taken ideas like that and took matters into his own hands and murdered five police officers because he saw then as domestic enemies. We may never know exactly what was going through his mind, but that is what it looks like right now. I quit that group when I started seeing the “thumbs up” notifications from others like me, Veterans, and I was embarrassed and ashamed.

I don’t know how to feel from the past 72-hours. Honestly I am sick and appalled that we are where we are. Today I am watching the news in shock and feel numb. But I guess that is our “new normal” response to things like this. White cop shoots black man… Numb. White man shoots kindergartners… Numb. Black man shoots black man… Numb. White man shoots black parishioners… Numb. Black man shoots white cops… Numb. You can see it our response from our leaders and our communities, for fuck’s sake you can see it in the news reporting… same story, just change the names and city and get people to say “Thoughts and Prayers”. No change.

Our new normal is a world of extreme. To be in the middle is perceived as being weak and without dedication. You have to push the boundaries of morals and ethics to be popular and to be seen as outrageous to be heard. It’s not enough to say that you support the 2^nd amendment, but we have to say that everyone needs to be a “good guy with a gun” and push to limit who is restricted from getting a gun. Even turning your back on the idea that people who are mentally ill or on the No Fly list or being investigated by law enforcement should be restricted from getting an AR-15 within 30 minutes and buying thousands of rounds of ammunition. 

We have to HATE cops, immigrants, minorities, the rich, the poor, the people who suggest change just to be taken seriously.

Our idea of balance is bloodshed. Our idea of justice is death. Our idea of right is ignorance to ideas.

Turn on any TV, log onto any social media and you will hear people talk about what we need to do to make things better: “If I was there, I would pull my gun out and shoot that bad guy” – yet you have never fired your weapon in a time of danger and stress and may have never even shot your weapon outside the safety of a range and maybe even without your ear protection. You don’t know. You don’t know what it feels like to pull the trigger when you heart is pumping out of your chest and you are shaking uncontrollably. You don’t know. Would you do some good that situation? Maybe. Could you do harm in that situation? Maybe. I hope we can figure out a way for you to never have to find out. Until that you have been in a situation where you can answer those questions, I would suggest to tone down that certainty rhetoric because right now, you have no fucking idea what you are talking about.

It HAS to be ok, to be pro-cop and at the same time know and understand that black people in this country are frustrated and scared. It HAS to be ok to be pro-2^nd amendment and think that assault rifles should be banned and it should be really fucking hard to own a gun. It HAS to be ok to think that hate is wrong and that love is an option. It has to be ok. But today, it isn’t.

And I know that there are people reading this right now who read the last paragraph and think, “Of course, that’ how I feel.” I say to you, feeling is not enough. Wanting is not enough. Thoughts are not enough. Prayers are not enough. We have to do something… anything. Please.

Yes, black lives matter and cops lives matter. Guess what, Lives Matter. Our new normal does not have to be the way we have to live and it  is up to us to do something about it.