A lot has happened in the world around us since my last post.
Today I baked a double batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and delivered them to the neighbors and a few friends in the community.
The coronavirus epidemic continues with a phased approach to re-opening occurring at levels set by the state / local communities, so different areas of the country are in different phases.
Here in New Jersey we are entering Phase 2 on June 15, they are looking at NJ as a single entity for this purpose – which I personally do not agree with considering we live in a low incidence area. It may have been better if the lockdowns went by level of infection / risk rather than a total lockdown, however there is no way to determine that at this point.
Well on top of this ongoing epidemic we had a horrible event in Minneapolis where a police officer, surrounded by fellow officers and other citizens, brutally murdered a black man. This was an un-excusable horrible act and should never have happened, we of course do not know all the facts of this case as we were not there. However, this event lead to a large outpouring of protests which some turned to violence and looting. Now the violence and looting were likely separate from the protesters by outsiders or adjitators. It seems that the public is listening, companies are making statements and reaching out to employees which is good to get positive conversation going. My company president did exactly that and encouraged people to talk about it among themselves remembering the company values – I did that with the team I work with and I think it was well received.
The police are largely community minded law abiding citizens, who risk their lives every day, there are bad apples as there are in society as a whole, but largely they do what they can to keep our communities safe.
There needs to be a sensible common ground to be able to take action when a wrong is done and to reward when a good action is taken.
A solution may not be easy to obtain but I think each of us can foster change by practicing mutual respect for others and going out of our way to be open to talk about these issues and be open to possible differences of opinon.
We live in a great country, the best in the world, we need to recognize and deal with challenges as they come to us as we do in our own lives.
God Bless America!!!