Can Children "Stand Your Ground", Too?

A 15-year-old child in Oxford, Michigan, has just shot 11 people at his school, killing four children, and injuring seven others. This happens over and over in America. Why?

We are quick to wonder, "What is happening with these children?" Are we serious? These children are doing what children have done since the beginning of time. They are mimicking the adults in their families, and in their communities. 

Boys watch their fathers drink and smoke and long for the day when they can do the same. And, more and more, they watch men shoot other men, and what American courts declare, "He stood his ground." Some of these children are beginning to wonder, "When bullied, do I have a right to "Stand my ground, too?" It is a legitimate question for children to ask when they see their fathers getting away with it. 

There have been bullies since the Earth first took us on. We have all been bullied at some point in our lives - at home, at school, at work, and at play. As children, we learned to negotiate our way around that bully, or fight. And, for the most part, that is how we got through childhood. Come adulthood, the same principle applied:  Negotiate your way out or fight. Now, this "Wild West" culture has sprung up in America where you do not have to negotiate anymore. If someone threatens you, shoot him. That is your right. And, since nearly everyone in America has a gun nowadays, it is about to come down to who has the quickest draw... again. Only in America.  

I am not saying that what happened in Oxford is indicative of men "standing their ground." I bring up Oxford because it is immediate; more to the point, because schools are the venue where the majority of childhood bullying is most likely to occur. It is that "bullying" as much as anything else that is the catalyst for these terrible "stand your ground" moments.  

Adults must accept full responsibility for having ushered in this third option: the option to shoot. We have condoned men shooting other men in America as though such archaic permissiveness had no chance of seeping into childhood culture and affecting how children handle their own conflicts; without acknowledging that it is the nature of children to mimic adult behavior, no matter how destructive our behavior becomes.  

Children cannot legally own a handgun. However, many children own rifles. Kyle Rittenhouse was 17 when he took an AR-15 rifle and shot three people - killing two and badly wounding a third. The court ruled he acted in self-defense. Do you think other children were not watching? They watched, and they listened as many in America declared Rittenhouse "a hero."  Do you think those children did not like the sound of that? They are children; we all were at one time. We were often quite impressionable. 

I remember school. There, I saw more busted lips, black eyes, and bloodied noes than my father ever saw on his job. I never thought about shooting anyone; I don't think anyone did. I, like the others, negotiated my way around bullies or fought. When we were coming up in the '50s, '60s, and '70, those were the only two options we had. 

These were the good ol' days when men and boys could have their disputes, and still make it home in time for dinner... perhaps sporting a black eye, or two.  

When Doing Right is as Difficult as Going to the Moon

For Americans, this Afghan diaspora is a difficult thing to get our heads around. It tugs at our hearts and reeks beneath our noses. We don't know what to do.  

One CNN analyst suggested that America should get as many Afghan women and girls out of that country as possible. To that damned suggestion, I could imagine, if Jed Clampett was an Afghan, he'd say, "You're 'bout to muddy my creek."  

It is too easy to lose our way in matters such as these, especially when we are not only unsure but also dishonest about our motives. 

America's altruism does not run nearly as deeply as does its pride. One Fox host, Greg Gutfeld, gloated that, within two weeks of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan, there will be no money in their banks, no gas for their cars, no electricity for their homes. Rather than pat ourselves on the back for the "greatest airlift since Berlin," we might should worry that Gutfeld's vision of Afghanistan is what we leave behind.  

America did not have much trouble putting together a formidable coalition to help it bomb Afghanistan. How about we put as much effort into a formidable alliance to ensure Afghanistan's survival? At present, we seem a bit too angry to do that. 

Perhaps we are simply pouting over losing the Afghan war to a band of rabble, and along with that, losing $80 billion worth of advanced American weaponry. There is an old saying, however: "To the victor belongs the spoils." That is a bitter pill for the greatest nation on Earth to swallow. Yet, swallow we much, last we soon choke on our pride, and further lose our way. Better that we should shake with the Taliban, like good sports, and move to make the best of a bad situation. If we don't those Afghan women and girls we feign to love so much will be the ones who suffer most. 

We pretend that the Taliban is our enemy. They are not. they did not attack us on 9/11; their guest Al Quaeda did. It is right that we held the Taliban accountable for being such a gracious host to the terrorist outfit. But they, themselves, are no more our enemy than were the Viet Cong, who ceased to be our enemy the moment we quit their land.  

Today, I hear the Afghan Girls' Robotics Team has slipped away from Afghanistan and is now in America. At the risk of sounding harsh, I suggest America does not need those fine young ladies a tenth as much as Afghanistan needs them. Of course, for them, life will be easier in America, and so will the immediate optics be easier on us. 

President John F. Kennedy once said, "We choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard." The easy way out for the U.S. is to look magnanimous while taking in the cream of Afghanistan's crop and adding them to our own stacked roster. The way to the moon is to suck up our pride and assist the nation that defeated us. We need to help all 20 million Afghan girls and women, all 40 million Afghans. You may say, "We tried; it didn't work." Well, let's try again. Look, this is difficult for everyone. Need I repeat the words of JFK?

I do not know if there is anyone living who can vouch for the Taliban. Who would? Yet, we must give ourselves a chance to give them a chance... for the sake of the Afghan people. The Taliban won the war, fair and square. If we do not give them a chance we write off 40 million Afghans - we purposefully relegate their lives to desperation, rather than the hope and dignity all peoples deserve. 

Let's do it! Let's see if we can put aside the mirror that only reflects our exceptional selves. Let us see. Let us define what a real American can be.  

Whatever Happened to America's Black Men?

Black men in America are not just in the doldrums, they are in a tailspin. They don't seem able to do anything right - politics, sports. They can't even sing anymore. All they can do is rap. What is that?

Black men led the Civil Rights struggle in America. I'm not just talking about Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. I'm talking Eldridge Cleaver, H. Rap Brown, Huey P. Newton, and Stokely Carmichael. The voice of America's black man blared like a thousand trumpets, and black communities across this nation heeded their calls. Today, barely a peep comes out of the black men in America's congress. Thank God for our black women. These sisters fight with both hands. Such bravery makes them the undisputed voice of black America today.  

Fight? Black men don't fight anymore? They shoot. That is one thing they excel at:  shooting other blacks. At that, those men are world-beaters.  

There was a time when black men were the scourge of the fight game. Of the top five weight classes in boxing, blacks ruled them all. In the most storied of those divisions - the heavyweights - nine of the top ten fighters on Earth were African-American, including Muhammed Ali, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman. Recently, Britain's Tyson Fury took on America's top fighter, Devonte Wilder, 6' 7", 245-pound slugger, and wiped the floor with him. Why does that matter? Because fighting matters. Fight reflects a people's spirit - its courage, its will. With his fist, Joe Louis galvanized, not only a race but a nation. Thirty years later, Muhammed Ali inspired a world.  

Blacks in baseball are in worst shape than those in boxing. There are no more Willie Mays' or Hank Aarons in baseball. In fact, there is not a single African-American play in all of Major League Baseball that bears mentioning. You may say, "Blacks still dominate basketball." Yes, but even there, they are slipping. The last three NBA Most Valuable Player awards went to foreign-born men: Giannis Antentekoumpo in '19 and '20 and Jokovic in '21.  

We've changed. Time was when black did not sing like normal folks; did not fight normal, either. Rather, we did it like we had been infused. It was something. I suppose, that steadily coalesced within us - imbued over centuries of abuse - a curious and wondrous compensation called "soul". It peaked in us in the 20th century and manifesting itself in an awakening that bordered on mysticism. The Negro League's Josh Gibson hit baseballs farther than any human in history. A goliath named Wilt Chamberlain set NBA records that will never be broken, like averaging 50 points a game over an 81 game season. And fighters named Jack Johnson and Sugar Ray Robinson sent white men scurrying for answers that did not come for another hundred years.  

Came the jazz men - black musicians who rose like zeniths to make music never heard before. It was "soul", and black folks felt it. We found comfort in our blackness - a sanctuary even white folks envied, and longed to join. Yeah, being black in America was not so bad, after all.

That was then, as they say, this is now. Our "awakening" has soured into our "ineptitude". Black men today can barely pass a baton. They can't fight. They can't sing. 

Black men at the height of their power had white men just where they wanted them - back on their heels, daring not to further prod these ascendant people. Then, came the "ineptitude" and with it our waning stature, and the inevitable loss of respect. That is where the black man is now. He has lost the respect earned over a century of struggle. 

The white man never respected the slave; neither did he respect the sharecropper But, the respected man who could carve out a niche their own terms like the black man did in America. Too bad we carved it in balsam wood and not stone.  

Be Packin'

Lately, the media has been informing us each Monday about the mass shootings that have taken place in this country the past weekend. The numbers are always staggering, and sickening. Then, on cue, they ask: "When will it stop?" And I say to myself, "It won't."

"What will it take," they add, "for lawmakers to take action?" It will take something our lawmakers do not have: Courage.

We don't seem to get it. We call these politicians "leaders", though they follow us. They are a tool of the American people's desires. I suppose that is how democracies are supposed to work, except when the people, themselves, are sick, and the so-called "leaders" are afraid to say, "Enough!"

In America, there are 300 million guns in the hands of 300 million citizens. Why? Put a bat in a person's hand, and he will swing it. Give him a rock, and he will throw it. Pass out 300 million guns, and there is going to be a lot of shooting. 

Guns have a singular purpose: to kill. Even when you target practice with a gun, the purpose is to make yourself a more efficient killer. We have already killed most of the animals in America, (and they are innocent). Now, we shoot at what is left, which is mostly people. After all, we are Americans. We must shoot. 

We the people want guns because we're tired of having to "get along" with other people. To Americans, "getting along" sounds weak. Rather have these killing machines that will make us super-men and super-women, (even super-kids): that will save us from fear, or from having to be conciliatory, or humble, or simply human. With guns, we won't have to teach our children to say "please" and "thank you" Just "Be Packin'."

America's 2nd Amendment right to bear arms is an obvious recipe for disaster. It would be a recipe for disaster for any nation on Earth. Fortunately, no other nation in the world follows our lead. And, the more we tout our vaunted 2nd Amendment right to bear arms," the more the rest of the world shakes its collective head in pity, and wonders. "What is wrong with those people?" I'll tel you: We lack courage. 

The Soul of Osaka

Naomi Osaka is the closest thing the sports world has to a Greta Thunberg, or a Malala Youssafsai. And they do not know what to do with her. Try listening.  

******

To understand Russia's Putin, spend some time reading up on Josef Stalin. In the 1930s, the Pope sent an emissary to Russia to encourage Stalin to treat his christians better. Stalin asked the emissary, "Ho many (army) divisions do the Pope have?" Putin is not only a Stalin disciple, he wants to be Stalin.  

******

Donald Trump recently asked one of his close advisors if there was a chance that he could be reinstated as President of these United States. This Trump is a marvel of the modern world: A grown man who still believes in the tooth fairy.  

******

Lebron James, with four NBA titles under his belt, is the league's premier politician. He religiously stays on good terms with all of the league's other great players. He sees each of them as a potential teammate who could help him surpass Michael Jordan's six NBA titles. 

******

There was a time, in the 70s, that I worked in rehabilitation at the Kalamazoo County Jail. From time to time, we'd ask our charges, "Do you want to look good, or be good?" It is still a question we each should ask ourselves. And, while we are at it, we might each want to ask, "Do I wan to work, or do I just want to get paid?"  

If this is the "great nation" it presumes to be, we, as a people, must get both questions right.  

Iron Domes: They Sure Do Work

We watch the Palestinians lob primitive rockets into Israel only to have 90% of those rockets blunted by Israel's "Iron Dome" anti-missile system. Then we see the Israelis return fire - missiles, artillery, smart bombs. Two hundred dead Palestinians to ten dead Israelis. Yet, the Palestinians continue to swing back. If you wonder "why?" then you've never really fought; you've never really faced a bully and committed your soul to standing up to him. 

The Palestinians exist in a 13-square-mile concentration camp called "The Gaza Strip." They are born into this captivity. A land, sea, and air blockade governs their entire lives. You might call it Israel's "other iron done." (Speaking of "iron domes": The two million Palestinians clinging to life in the Gaza Strip equals the number of men and women kept in America's prisons.)

America, which considers Israel one of its closest friends, condones Israel's human rights abuses against the Palestinian people, even as the world community objects. It appears we do not care as much about people's "living free" as we pretend. But, we like those "iron domes." They sure do work. 

Nine Minutes and Twenty-nine Seconds

Nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds. What kind of man would press a knee into the neck of another man for so long a period of time and think it is okay? And it isn’t like he did it in his basement. Officer Derek Chauvin did it in broad daylight, on a city street, with people gathered all around. He had no shame. I am a bit surprised Chauvin did not look around foolishly as he kneeled on Floyd’s neck, and say to the onlookers, “What?”

Chauvin is the police. These people – not all of them, but more than you might imagine – suffer from a sense of entitlement that rivals the privilege conquering soldiers have exerted over defenseless villagers for centuries, carrying with it the atrocities that have filled out countless campaigns. 

It is a beastly thing, this misguided sense of power – not imbued by God, but bestowed by men upon men who seemingly have no way of preventing such delusions of self-might from seeping unencumbered by conscience, into their brains. This reckless privilege has spawned a horrific culture of fear, death, and racial animus that is nowhere so pronounced as here in America.

Yet, in many of their minds, these police are simply “heroes”. When challenged, they simply become “misunderstood heroes” – mistreated and under-appreciated. They rarely feel remorse for their actions. Mostly, they feel disdain for what they view as political lynching. In their minds, they assume the posture of sacrificial lambs, and they feel every bit as innocent

Space, Sin, and Astrophysicists

Top astrophysicists promote the “Big Bang Theory” – that the universe sprang into existence in a single instance some 15 billion years ago. I doubt that. But, then, I am often at odds with things learned men and women say about the universe. That may sound strange considering they hail from the cream of the astrophysicists’ crop, while I am fathoms removed from the bottom rung. Nonetheless, I have my own theory.

******

 

The bigger the house, the more empty the home. With that in mind, you supposed “rich folk” might want to try a bit of downsizing, for happiness’ sake. 

 

******

The problem with keeping people endlessly imprisoned is that prisoners will eventually lose the healthy disgust they feel for themselves, and begin to focus a more bleak disgust upon a system that feels compelled to punish. It is as though this hateful desire to punish others is ingrained into the state – into the very hearts of its politicians and its citizenry; having proven itself, somehow, to be elemental to America’s psyche, like destiny, and beyond the realm of mere mortals to right. 

******

 

This vaunted “Space Force” idea America is wont to pursue – a design to militarize Earth’s outer orbit – is shameless. It will amount to nothing more than a build-up of capacity to unleash high-tech weaponry down upon this Earth – to bombard our poor and precious planet from a greater distance than we already bombard it today. 

******

 

This is simple: It would seem that any time we propel ourselves forward in space, we experience time travel. The store is a mile from where I stand. It will take an hour to walk there. I get into an automobile that travels at 60mph, I am there in one minute. That store is in my future. By being propelled forward in an automobile, I am thrust 59 minutes into the future, during which time I age one minute instead of one hour. 

****** 

 

In John 8:11, Jesus said to a sinner, “Go, and sin no more.”  I think I can do that. 

Out of Bounds

For many of us sports is that noble pursuit we can be sure of. It is the human spirit in motion – raw, pure, and… wait; did that basketball player just carry the ball five steps while the referee was swallowing his whistle? Must be NBA Sunday. 

The NBA is the cream of basketball. There, we expect the best shooting, passing, defense, and ball handling on Earth. Instead, we become witnesses to a great league devolving into a Hollywood production. The other day, I saw Dallas guard, Luka Doncic, in a revised version of the “Euro-step” carry the ball five steps before laying it in the basket. Applause. Back in the day, such a blatant violation would have been grounds for a fistfight. 

Coming up in rural Michigan in the 60s, we played basketball wherever we could carve out a court. Sometimes, it was no more than a hoop nailed to a tree ten feet about a hardened dirt surface. Yet, even upon that dumpy ground, we demanded clean handling of the ball: no steps – no "carrying the ball" over that dip in the landscape; no “palming the ball”; no “traveling with the ball” around the clump of crab-grass. Either dribble through the defect or pick up your dribble and give up the ball. Now, the NBA, of all entities, desecrates rules we enforced with our souls. 

And, if they are not “walking with the ball,” or taking siestas, (euphemistically referred to as “load management”), these NBA stars are “flopping” – flailing left and right, pretending to have been fouled – hoping to fool the referees into awarding them bonus shots at the free-throw line. It is a mess. It has gotten to so bad, a few weeks ago the “see no evil” referees told LeBron James, who was flopping with the best of them, to “cut it out.” It was a rare admonition, which merited a few kindly chuckles from the networks that pay the league billions for this brand of corrupted basketball. 

The National Football League is but a bit better. One of its biggest failings is the players’ use of gloves – high-tech apparel to which thrown balls cling. There was a time in the NFL when they spoke glowingly of the “great hands” select receivers possessed. Now, we rarely hear the term because no one knows anymore who has “great hands,” or just “great gloves.”  Come on. Ban the fancy gloves. They are pure “college,” like aluminum bats. 

Despite the mountains of money that saturates these games, sports maintain a core of innocence no other stage can afford. It is that innocence that galvanizes our faith, that makes us cheer for our team – win or lose – as we would cheer for our own child. But, it cannot sustain such immunity from cynicism while continuing to allow abject falsity to stain its chase. That would be like a parent cheering on a child, unmoved, as that child walked onto the field with the intent to cheat.  

The fate of these sports could hand in the balance, teetering between cheesy entertainment, and stuff forged on the stellar fires. These athletes, these franchises, these leagues waver for no other reason than want of convenience; they falter for lack of commitment to the rigors that make their games compelling. Sports risks losing its deserts – the adulation we have given so fully – for want of a softer bed.    

The Capitol "Putsch"

Merriam Webster defines "putsch" as "a secretly planned and suddenly executed attempt to overthrow a government." Adolph Hitler's effort in 1920 is referred to as the "Beer Hall Putsch." It failed, and Hitler was jailed. 

One hundred years later, what arguably may do down as the second-most infamous of putsches - Donald Trump's "Capitol Putsch" - has failed also. Trump may not go to jail, but he has certainly been impeached. 

There are parallels in this century-wide duo. Both men exist - and seemed to have existed - without a conscience. The megalomaniacal nature of the two men has prompted cult-like followings in their respective realms that few leaders of either's nation have ever known. Hitler, however, volunteered and fought in the bloody trenches of World War I. Trump cried "bone spurs" to avoid the draft, and save himself from the Vietnam War. 

In the "Beer Hall Putsch," after firing up his myrmidons, Hitler led the march on Germany's parliament. When the police opened fire on him and his men, Hitler stood in the breach and fired back. Trump, in his "Capitol Putsch", after exhorting his myrmidons to be strong and brave, and declaring, "I'll be there with you," instead marched in the other direction - straight to the White House, where he would view the carnage from the safety of the Oval Office. 

They were very much alike and very, very different. Hitler was hard-core. Trump, he reminds me of a joke Bill Cosby told back in the '60s. Feigning to exhort black activists to march on the police, he declared, "I'll be right behind you. That way when the police start shooting and we turn and run, I'll be in front.