So where do we go from Trayvon?

So where do we go from Trayvon?

Trayvon has become a national royal pain in the neck. While I think the following video adequately expresses the outrage of those who feel like I do about 'stand' your ground, this outrage accomplishes little.  Where is all this headed?  http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-july-15-2013/acquitted-development

It is hard to imaging a law endorsing legalized murder can stand for long.  The idea that every time there is fisticuffs and one is fearful, you can kill your opponent is simply barbaric.  Add to that laws which say we can all pack guns just about any where is hardly a law which promotes a feeling of safety out in public. Of course packing a gun is not really safety unless it is cocked and in hand at all times in public. Certainly it won't do to let anyone else get the drop on you.  After all, with everyone packing guns, we all are entitled to be fearful out in public. Is that student I just reprimanded about his behavior reaching for a pen or a gun?  Best to quickly shoot the student, after all he is carrying a gun and I was fearful.  And the examples go on and on. 

I liked the example in the video, both from Florida. It is ok to pack a gun, get in your car, stalk a total stranger, get out of the car even though the police told you not to follow the person, confront the person, and when a scuffle breaks out, be fearful of your life and shoot the person. Legal murder. On the other hand, a gal who shot a gun in the air to scare off an abusive husband, is sentenced to 20 yrs in jail. Of course Florida doesn't want people shooting guns off into the air. What the hell was she afraid of? Air? 

All of us have prejudices of various sorts to varied degree at various times for various reasons. We don't trust everyone, and certainly not those too different from ourselves or who represent in our minds bad people.  When ____ said if Terrell Owens was on his team he would shoot him. Well, in Florida he really could have legally done so. 

For our nation to survive without becoming Baghdad West this obsession with guns and violence being the answer to conflict will have to change. How fast, and if fast enough, is a fair enough question. I doubt any of us know. Before any change a lot of people are going to die, and all of them have spouses, relatives, and friends who are angry enough to kill the murderer. Pretty soon, like in Iraq, the list of people who we feel fearful of, and need to kill will be a huge list. In Chicago I now have to decide whether to legally pack a gun on the streets of Chicago. I have been walking by myself for years on the streets of Chicago and only once was I ever subjected to an attempted mugging. I got a neat gash on my head, but I lived to continue alive. 

Frankly, for me to have a chance I really need to walk with my gun in one hand and my walking stick (cane) in the other. It is really rare that anyone ever gets any forewarning of a mugging. On these walks just about everyone is friendly, in part because I am friendly enough to them in a fairly indiscriminate fashion. I have met all sorts of people and had many interesting conversations, a chance to understand how others think and why. It sure beats meaningless chatting on a cell phone about what mundane things some friend or family member did all day. 

I think part of the problem for those who think Zimmerman is innocent of manslaughter is they simply decide who they like better, Zimmerman or Martin. After all, a lot of people are annoyed about the amount of crime in their neighborhood. 

Of course this has nothing to do with what kind of person Trayvon was simply because Trayvon was a total stranger to Zimmerman---in which case Trayvon could have been most anyone's son, at least if they were blk and wearing a hood.  Or, if you wish, you were white in a blk neighborhood and wearing, I don't know, some 'cracker' clothes. 

Eventually, I suppose the Supreme Court will have to decide whether states can pass laws which legalize manslaughter as long as fear was in the mind of the killer. But by the time this problem gets to the Supreme Court our society could be well past the point of no return.  Iraq, Afghanistan, Ireland, Sudan, Mexico, etc. are all examples of well armed societies with little tolerance for diversity. Call me naive, but I hope Obama succeeds in his crusade to get Americans to leave their guns at home, make assault weapons illegal, and encourage people to adopt their own personal approach to others, to befriend all kinds, and through actions, generosity, and tolerance, enable others to actually trust each other. There is no need to be like others, or have the same religion, or same politics, or same color, or same culture---just do unto all others as you would have them do unto you. Can anyone seriously think Buddha, Christ, Muhammed, Confucius, or any other major prophet of any religion would really suggest everyone go around packing a gun in public?  I sometimes wonder why so many people go through the motions of going to church when in reality, they ignore the Golden Rule, replace it with glittering cathedrals, inane rituals, pick and choose what portions of some biblical text they choose to follow, and always----always, depend on forgiveness for their 'sins'. To me, this is self-serving irrational manipulation of ethics to justify their own 'family values'. 

To me, if I feel a need to pack a gun in public, I am then already jailed and incarcerated in a prison called home.  People do not hang around outside in their neighborhood as much as years ago, maybe outside now simply means the internet and our cell phones where we  interact endlessly with the same few people with endless inane conversations. Something seems amiss here.  For all the wonderful things existing today to enrich our lives, it is not progress when kids have to be monitored every second of the day, when neighbors hardly know each other, when everyone feels a need to pack a gun if they leave the house, and we are bombarded all day long with global acts of inhumanity to humanity via the internet, TV, smart phones, etc. Too much of life today seems garbage in, garbage out. Of course this all comes from an admitted aged curmudgeon.