Humility on the Menu
Ref needed in Minneapolis.
Stop fighting and have a seat, Guys.
What’s on the Menu?
Scratching my head on this one. I’ve been struggling to come up with something that doesn’t (or shouldn’t) make us all vomit after the death of Renee Good in Minneapolis.
If nothing else, I can’t help but feel that some sort of collective purge is needed.
As I watch videos that share different vantage points - gosh are we are fortunate to have a variety of different videos, like the Hawk-Eyes and Skycams of Instant Replays. As I also make myself read a variety of news sources and I listen to the voices of The Current Administration frame This Happening as anything less than an unbelievable tragedy, my stomach literally turns.
Somehow, I can’t help but feel The American People are being served a plate full of Rotten.
Entrails, anyone?
Flaming Turds, perhaps?
Not. Even. Sugar-Coated.
Look Into My Eyes.
Try It.
You’ll Like It.
Where are Mikey’s Big Brothers? Why can’t they convince our leaders to try a more healthy mindset?
“Listen to me now, Believe Me Later.”
[I can feel them saying.]
We bought into Hans & Franz in the late 80’s and early 90’s on Saturday Night Live. They had our best interests at heart. They manipulated our funny bones and heart strings, for sure.
The strings, these days.
Well, they are seemingly quite different. The frayed strings of a very frightening puppet show.
When did we forget how to laugh? When did we stop being able to mock the machismo and get away with it - together?
Au contraire, Renee Good’s Death is No Laughing Matter.
Nor was her driving an Act of Domestic Terrorism, Kristi.
C’mon Guys. Be Better.
Thank goodness for recounts like the Cato Institute; encouraging us to ‘exercise a bit of humility’ and as Walter Olson (‘writer and author, especially on legal subjects’) suggests, when acknowledging that sometimes an officer shoots someone wrongfully.
We don’t yet know what happened or why.
We just know it was a tragedy.
Why can’t our leaders call it that?
Why Smear?
Why Shit-Coat?
A woman died.
Vile Vance surely earned his nickname.
It’s OK though, we no longer expect empathy from our President.
But Guys, this isn’t Peaky Blinders. We are not gangsters like Alfie Solomon and Thomas Shelby who share the wicked ways and volatility in their criminal world. Their days and nights are riddled with betrayal and the clever rationalization of the kill and killing(s).
Reminder: They are characters on TV.
We live in the Real World.
It’s Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Where mothers drive their kids to school in the snow.
Was she blocking ICE? It would seem so.
Regarding what happened next…
Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Girl, Oh Girl.
Referee, Make a Good Call
More than a Judge or a Jury, in this political Game of Shells we are living, I believe we need a Ref.
A Good Ref.
Ref must… exhibit a deep understanding and knowledge of the law, (as well as an appreciation of community). Demonstrate strong decision-making but also strong communication, impartiality and courage. Emotional control? Yes, but we’ll need to validate that said Ref also has a range of emotions.
It terrifies me slightly to believe that we could find a Referee that we could universally feel good about The Call they must make. I was reading through some Youth Soccer blogs about what to do ‘if the referee makes a bad call’ and feel concerned about my suggestion to get a Ref, knowing that…
“At no point in time, in the history or future of soccer, will a referee's decision be reversed.”
Can we even imagine the scene;
What would the Trumps, Vances, Leavitts and Noems of The Great Podium say if this event was deemed an accident?
What if the Officer(s) are - in any way - to blame?
Never mind what Minnesotans might say or do if their beloved neighbor, Renee, from whom they’ve shared playdates and cake, is officially labelled a domestic terrorist.
There isn’t a toilet big enough for all of us to run to.
For some inappropriate reason my mind felt that it would be interesting to see former church confessionals used in home renovations this week - as toilets, loos, dare I say powder (keg) rooms? I actually couldn’t find any images of confessional loos on Pinterest. Maybe the trend will catch on… I was imagining converted churches using the space as a much needed downstairs loo.
The idea of praying to the porcelain gods. The notion of uniquely private times to pray and ultimately transforming these routine acts into moments of awareness.
A step too far?
For me, running to the bathroom during a meal reminds me of my childhood.
So, let’s head back to The Table,
I’m feeling like we need the Short Order Cook my mother always claimed she wouldn’t be.
The Olde Ways
Dinner is served; we all eat the same or we don’t eat.
Some nights we win, some nights we go to bed hungry.
Tearful and hungry, we kids oft felt when the weeknight’s meal was Tuna Salad… with Onions. The look in my little brother’s eyes when he crunched an onion. The playful banter when Mom and Dad would chant ‘Oooooh, Sounds Like An Onion’. Oh, how I felt his pain. I did muster up my very best in those Onion Minefields, too. Hoping for a bite without a bomb to crunch, followed by tears of fear.
Nerves of Steel were required to get through those meals.
Why, Oh Why? I have wondered. Why couldn’t Mom just make two versions? Everyone Wins. She coulda
…made two bowls, with and without onions.
…grated the onions.
She coulda tried to hear and feel the pain of 3/5’s of the Table Population.
Parenting 101
Whilst the Parenting Pendulum of the 90’s and 00’s has shifted from the “Do As I Say” and “Wait Til Your Father Gets Home” to the rather woke methods of Gentle Parenting. Ultimately making a kinder, gentler population may not be what is in the public interest… but nor is the Tone Deaf version that seems to be parading as leadership.
I know most of us can agree that The Adults should be in charge when raising children or pets. Consistency, boundaries and consequences. &Gentle hugs and kind words when we need them. These, I know we can all agreed make for good sound parenting principles.
This week, I struggled to write as much as I struggled not to write.
Were we to be found around the Hūset Table this week, surely Humility would be on the Menu du Jour.
My heart is with Renee Good’s family and friends.
My heart is with the officer who must wrestle with why he pulled that trigger.
My mind continues to baffle with the place we find ourselves in.
Guns.
Masked Men.
Violent Gun Shots in Communities.
Citizens Up in Arms.
Leaders unable to read the room.
Let’s Hope for Better. Soon.
Let’s Hope more leaders adopt the approach of Border Czar (even if we don’t like the choice of wording in his job title), Tom Homan when he says;
"It'd be unprofessional to comment on what I think happened in that situation."
Even when Hope is not a Strategy.
I’ll still Hope, for now.
ABBY
Abby, always enjoy Our Huset. Since the latest disaster in Minneapolis is recent I have these thoughts to share.
1. I don’t think the officer is wrestling with his decision since he apparently said immediately after the shooting “f’ing bitch.”
2. About reading the room, the administration isn’t even looking at the room you’re thinking about. They only care about the room occupied by the disturbingly bitter, angry and unthinking sycophants who somehow still support the lawless president.
The utter lack of humanity and decency troubles me beyond words.
"It’s Minneapolis, Minnesota." It's not the same Minneapolis you once knew. It has a serious disease that is far worse than COVID. Think about it, if the police were allowed to collaborate with ICE to find and extract the killers, rapists, traffickers, etc., this incident would not have happened. BTW, All of the many federal officials from the president on down have expressed sincere sorrow for the loss of this woman's life, even though she was seriously infected with the disease of trying to stop ICE from doing their job under law.