outraged

 When you have nothing firm to stand on you keep shifting your feet. That is something I see more every day. There is a growing segment of the population that has lost their collective footing and just keep shuffling their stance. Unwilling to accept what is real they keep looking to the past for some sort of confirmation of the future. Perhaps that is why I see this proliferation of revisiting past tragedies and injustices and pretending they just happened. These folks are hoping to change the outcome. The cry is always, we must never forget. The truth is remembering that past will not change the present, or the future. You can't change what hasn't happened yet. 

 It is best to accept the past for what it was, with all the flaws, mistakes and skewed sensibilities. That is what should be remembered , not a reliving of it. Doesn't matter how many times you relive that past, the outcome will always be the same. Even when you do your best to revise, rewrite, and in some cases ignore history, it remains unchanged! It really makes little difference how many times you say, I'm sorry, it will not change the past. Our task is to learn from that past. It isn't enough to just remember and be outraged. The key to learning is to understand the same outrageous behaviors that lead to those past tragedies will do the same today, or tomorrow. Yet it seems a lot of folks these days wish to repeat those actions calling them progressive, enlightened even. Folks said that back then too.

 The current method is to rename actions. Guns are assault weapons! Well so is a baseball bat if I swing it at you.  Guns were invented primarily to kill things, other people first! Just a historical fact! People really don't want to be killed by other people and so have searched for ways to defend themselves. Guns work well as an equalizer. It has been said that God made men and Sam Colt made them equal. A great deal of truth in that statement. It was the sentiment behind the 2nd amendment before Sam Colt was alive. You can't erase that history. You can't rewrite it or change it. You had best find a way to live with it. If you don't, you will one day either be subjugated by it, or die from it. A simple fact. People are the assault weapons, everything else is just the tool employed to do the job. The reason we say, don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

 It isn't so much the rewriting and revision of history that troubles me, that has always taken place and will continue long after I am gone, but the abandonment of a solid moral and ethical foundation. That is the new progressive way that is so disconcerting. This cry of tolerance and inclusiveness.  Tolerance isn't the same as adoption and inclusiveness doesn't mean indiscriminate either! It is that redefining that needs to be called out. I can tolerate your behavior without adopting or embracing it! If it is wrong, it is wrong regardless of any notion to the contrary. No matter how much I may benefit from allowing that behavior, it is still wrong. Being inclusive does not include abandoning my values in favor of yours! Discrimination is the act of recognizing a difference or making a distinction. It is actually a survival tool. But we mustn't say these things anymore, we are supposed to remain silent. To do otherwise, to admit to truth, is somehow being viewed as archaic. Amazingly , at least one state has legislated that when a child is born the doctor can't distinguish the sex of that child and so the birth certificate can be gender neutral! Gender neutral? The premise here is that regardless of biological evidence we must not discriminate. You get to choose based solely on your feelings. No one will tell you what you are!
 When you have nothing firm to stand on you keep shifting your feet. That is exactly what is happening with these five minute philosophers that are so prolific today. Just go with the flow and say what people want to hear. Whenever I am met with opposition I will yield and defend that surrender. I didn't really capitulate, I experienced growth. Then having done so I will insist everyone else do the same. The philosophy, the guiding principle in all of this, is to escape accountability or responsibilty for anything I might say or do. That is why it is good to be a survivor or a victim. One should be rewarded, and the other compensated. Becoming either one requires no action on my part. Better still if I can show some connection to past injustices or injuries, no matter how tenuous, and express my outrage I will be admired for my courage!  If I can't make a connection to those events of the past I can apologize for them, profusely! Hey, don't blame me ! I accept responsibilty just don't hold me responsible for that. Can't you see I'm outraged?