2 thoughts on “Moment of Clarity, July 2015, Ferguson vs. Charleston”
Kim, as always, I enjoy learning from your perspective.
One thing that immediately comes to mind in thinking of the differences between the tragedies you list is that the ones that sparked riots were due to state sponsored actors. (aka Police Officers) In these cases the uniform trumped the person and prevented an opportunity for that moment of sympathy.
I am not saying that the riots were justified; you and I have discussed Ferguson at length in the past. What I am saying is that perhaps it is easier to have sympathy for the mother of a nut-job than for an over-fearful or racist cop.
Valid point, John. I can see how it’s easier to project forgiveness on the mother of a nut-job than a cop (racist or otherwise). Who said this forgiveness stuff was supposed to be easy? It’s the ones that aren’t easy that seem the most productive in stabilizing environments. We’ve also discussed that if no one backs down from a Parent-Parent conflict, somebody dies. Forgiveness is the “Engage Enthusiastically” of backing down so as to accelerate stability. Great stuff.
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Kim, as always, I enjoy learning from your perspective.
One thing that immediately comes to mind in thinking of the differences between the tragedies you list is that the ones that sparked riots were due to state sponsored actors. (aka Police Officers) In these cases the uniform trumped the person and prevented an opportunity for that moment of sympathy.
I am not saying that the riots were justified; you and I have discussed Ferguson at length in the past. What I am saying is that perhaps it is easier to have sympathy for the mother of a nut-job than for an over-fearful or racist cop.
Valid point, John. I can see how it’s easier to project forgiveness on the mother of a nut-job than a cop (racist or otherwise). Who said this forgiveness stuff was supposed to be easy? It’s the ones that aren’t easy that seem the most productive in stabilizing environments. We’ve also discussed that if no one backs down from a Parent-Parent conflict, somebody dies. Forgiveness is the “Engage Enthusiastically” of backing down so as to accelerate stability. Great stuff.