It seems that there comes a time that I have to express something that is weighing heavily on me. Warning, you might get triggered. Hopefully in a positive way.
As I write this, the United States is going through some of the worst demonstrations of a lack of compassion, empathy, tolerance and pure hate mongering. I chose to emigrate to the United States in 1989 and took my oath of citizenship voluntarily in 2003. I was not born here. I had to make a conscious decision to become a US citizen, and I had to pledge that decision in a court room, in front of a judge. It is not a decision I took lightly.
But the country that I chose to be a citizen of has disappointed me lately.
Over the past 15 years or so, I've seen the country that was a beacon for hope, opportunity and freedom become the polar opposite of that. I've seen personal interest usurp the best interest of the citizenry. I was welcomed by people from all backgrounds - locals born in the USA, to other immigrants, any race, any religion, any sexual preference. Everyone treated me as a welcomed stranger coming to a country that was far away from where I originated. And they became my friends.
But this week has been horrible, to say the least. I have a lot of Jewish friends and I cherish their friendship. I'm not Jewish. But that doesn't matter. They welcomed me into their lives with open arms. I gave back where I could, with my skills, or with my own charity. I welcomed them into my homes. They are part of my family. We are all immigrants here.
When I watched the news about the abhorrent executions of 11 of my Jewish friends in Pittsburgh, I almost vomited. I didn't know any of those people. But I really did. I knew of my friends who were no different. Those that were of the same age, and those that were not. Those that just wanted to pray in peace and celebrate their own faith. They had no interest in hurting anyone - in fact the polar opposite. They were community. There were doctors, charity workers, mothers, fathers, grand parents, husbands, wives, aunties, uncles. They had successfully built up lives that were honorable. That had raised families that were eager to accept the baton that was passed to them. They didn't deserve any of what came upon them. Nor did their families. I grieve with them, and yet I didn't personally know any of them.
What I do know is that the freedom that we all cherish and would defend to our dying breath, was turned on these poor people, along with the rest of the country, like a weapon. The freedom to spread fear, lies, innuendo, disinformation, and turn race against race, people against people, friend into foe, has become some form of acceptable credo. The fact that a middle aged man could turn his anger into some perceived right he had to take the lives of others can never be tolerated. It can never be ignored. It can never be blamed on others for what happened.
What happened was simple - a person was driven into an insane mental state, in which he felt the right and even the obligation, to take up arms against innocent people and steal their lives from them. To destroy the fabric of families and to destroy the community. For what? For some perceived grievance?
There are those in our community who are more likely to read a news story, watch a TV show, see something on Facebook, etc. and turn it into a mantra for carrying out the bidding of the author. For that reason, I take a lot of care to ensure that what I write provides hope. I am more than happy to criticize injustice in my blog articles. I'm more than happy to call out those that shackle us. And to help all of us find ways to retain our freedom. But sometimes it just feels like an empty cause. A cause that is empty because of the lunatics that are out there, who can get a gun easier than they can get a drivers license and feel the moral obligation to destroy the lives of as many innocent victims as possible.
It would be really easy to point the finger at President Trump. But that would be the simplest answer to a very complex situation. I'll be honest - I'm no fan of Trump. I never was a fan in the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2000s, etc. when I saw him as a vain and egotistical maniac with his massive buildings, and the big TRUMP name stamped on them. I used to cringe about 15 years ago, when I was driving out of Los Angeles to Phoenix, and the last decent place to get a meal was the "Trump 29" casino in Indio, California, before you were on the 10 freeway for about 4 hours. After that last stop, there wasn't anything decent to eat other than greasy truck stops. So I'd take the family there to get the buffet meal.
It was really good. Great food choices, and a decent price. Then I saw it go broke and get bought out by someone else. I realized it was the demise of a business that could have been so much more, but this was just another opportunity for a gigantic ego to stick a name on something, without giving a crap about what it was, what made it special and how to make it better.
That casino became the pure definition of Trump to me. Now I see the United States being branded the same way.
The problem isn't that Trump fired a single shot. Or directly instructed anyone to do it on his behalf. What happened is that winning became more important than what you win. That just beating the opponent at something came at the expense of what you were fighting over. That by demonstrating this approach and using it to win the presidency, demonstrated to millions that they could "win" in their way. Regardless of the casualties. Regardless of the mayhem. Regardless of the lives ended and families shattered. The hunger of the individual to carve out their "share of the pie" clouded their judgment and others suffered badly.
This existed well before Trump, of course. Remember the line in the movie, "Wall Street"? "Greed is good." Oliver Stone wrote that to demonstrate the pure idiocy of how people can have their perception twisted by tapping into the human desire for acquisition and wealth. Greed isn't good. We know that. We are taught that as children. Yet there is a population who believe that because it was said so eloquently in a movie by a big name Hollywood actor, then it must be true. And it must be a direction they follow. And anyone that gets in the way should be eliminated. And any perceived threat should be destroyed.
It is healthy to challenge what you are told, particularly on mainstream media. Alternative views may offer part of the solution to a problem, particularly when you don't feel that you are being told the whole truth. But the conspiracy theory is no longer healthy when it becomes a channel of hate. It is not helping when the person telling it is screaming it at you. It isn't helping when it makes your blood boil, or you feel that you've been lied to all these years.
That the reason for your poverty or that you feel your liberties have been taken from you are because of some dark force that is plotting against you. And if you don't destroy it, you will be a slave to it. This is the recipe for disaster, and is the core reason that people do evil things. With some justification for doing this in their twisted minds.
We have to realize that we live in a world where people get "triggered". They turn on each other like life was some first person shooter video game. It's ok - we'll just respawn and play the next round. No, that is not how life works. There is no respawn. You kill and you will be pay the ultimate price. And so will other innocent victims.
An evolved human being should be critical of what they are told. But a truly evolved human being knows how to argue their point with dignity. How to respect others, so that they will be respected. How to lead by example - not by edict. How to remember it is not who wins the game, but how you played it fairly, and that you respect what you win in the end.
We all have to change our approach and denounce violence. We should take a leaf from those fallen before us, and be willing to open our arms and let people in. Not shut them out. We have to realize that our success is only a worthy success if we can help someone else out.
I recently read an interest comment on my articles from 
If we have lost this, we are lost. We will wander the planet aimlessly with no sense of direction. We have to realize that dignity, respect and charity matter. That we have to protect those that are vulnerable and we have to celebrate the success of all of us.
This "win at all costs" attitude has to stop. It has to stop at the very top of leadership because we are not winning anything worth keeping at this rate.
