Posts Tagged ‘consequences’
Passing Thoughts
Since we are in the middle of training our new dog, I am immersed in the process of addressing issues in a timely manner. Both reward and admonishment must be delivered closely enough to the given behavior to imprint the lessons intended.
What if society were able to”train” unethical judges and politicians to behave by administering timely consequences for their unethical or criminal behaviors? Unfortunately, our system of justice moves excruciatingly slowly and seems to barely offer results commensurate with the transgressions.
Imprudent judges and politicians behave? Hah! Who am I trying to kid?
What if people simply behaved ethically because it is the right thing to do? Yeah, that’s just a passing thought.
Another passing thought came to me after I heard the umpteenth claim of being subjected to a witch hunt. How many times might one claim “witch hunt” before they start considering if they might actually be a witch? At this point, I’m leaning toward a certain person likely being a witch.
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Misdeeds
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I’m not the one who knows
what is going on
but I can see something’s happening
in fact
it’s right there in the open
where the whole world can see
consequences are selective
whose misdeeds will truly have to pay
who of the rest gets to just walk away
until the movie ends
credits scroll up the screen
and the soundtrack solemnly plays
walking out of the darkness
we return to the bright light of day
where the news headlines blur
what was a cinematic play
from what is really happening
in the usual way
in front of our eyes
in oh so many ways
despite all the outrage
good people repeatedly convey
incriminating evidence
vividly on full display
how can there be so few consequences
for the guilty who walk free today?
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Still Gray
Another day dawns under continued winter fog that is making the world feel small but making surfaces magically white. It’s not a bad thing, except in that it mirrors the sense lingering after the insanity that played out five days ago.
Now five deaths attributed to the insurrection at our nation’s capitol building. Days of shocked reaction have followed with innumerable calls for consequences, only some of which seem to actually be happening. Participants who have been positively identified are getting arrested. The primary media pathways for spreading falsehoods and calling for more unrest are being shut down.
That’s all well and good, but it still feels like we are thrashing around in the deep end of a pool on the brink of drowning and we can’t get to the edge to grasp some respite from the threat.
Calls for impeachment and/or removal by the 25th amendment seem like just words. Justice is understandably slow. The thing that leaves us feeling so helpless is the inability to immediately disarm the imminent threats. Calling people (politicians, police, extremists) out for their misdeeds as a way of maybe shaming them into suddenly having a change of heart and becoming reasonable, upstanding, well-meaning seekers of actual truth and justice doesn’t feel like a very effective plan.
So, we wait for the next calamity and for the most viable consequences to play out, greedily longing for a chance to get over to the edge of the pool so we can catch our breath.
It’s hard to argue the racial component overtly evident in the angst of Trump and his followers. My thoughts on that continue to align with the need for the rest of society to be the solution.
Edmund Burke —
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
If we neglect to acknowledge the racial injustices that have brought us to where we are and that continue to exist inherently in today’s society, we are doing nothing to foil the triumph of evil.
We reap what we sow here folks.
I gotta put my shoulder to the mechanism of sowing love and give an extra heave-ho today. Love will be my life-preserver on which to cling out here in the foggy, gray deep end.
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Relative Something 