I have lived thru a couple of dust ups and thought I had outlived some of the problems our nation has been faced with but this latest one has me rethinking a lot of things.

As with most of you who read my blog, I was raised in a small west Texas community that for geographical reasons was not confronted with many of society’s problems.  We had race issues because we were raised in a divided system and lived thru the end of some segments of that separatist system.  We, I guess , were the lucky ones.

We also lived thru the civil unrest that led to the civil rights act.  None of the conflict of this step towards equal rights ever effected me in any way that I remember.  Who rode the bus didnt make me any difference because I didnt ride the bus.  Again, privilidged and lucky, I guess.  I did participate in some protests at UT Austin where a group of us stood in front of the tower and repeated the words inscribed over the tower’s main entrance.  This action was met with a reaction from almost all fraternities on campus.  ” YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE”.  Well maybe, but not guaranteed.

I have lived my life trying to be as fair with my fellow man as I could be.  I think I probably avoided situations that would go against my beliefs.  I guess that is not the way I should have done it.  I guess I should have been more proactive.  I guess I should have spent more time trying to find a cure for what has our populace torn in half.  I just cant bring myself to get involved in a situation where one person, who is reported to have spent his entire life breaking the laws of our land but his death becoming the trigger point for so much social unrest.  Its just too much for me to comprehend.

All I can say is you dont have to burn my house down because the fire department wasnt able to save your’s.

GARY