Reminding ourselves of aspects of perspective is almost always helpful, but surprisingly enough, many forget to do this and make snap assumptions and judgments about people and ideas based on a very limited perspective. We do this in part because not doing so can make us feel absolutely dizzy as we try to acclimate ourselves to the feeling of living in the moment and allowing our senses to take in everything without trying to hold onto it all too tightly, without immediately naming each aspect of our experience.A spate of recent robberies in our small town, not surprisingly, has many folks believing that the homeless population is behind these, with neighbors getting upset and clamoring that something needs to be done. However, our town's newspaper reported today that the police chief noted that many of the robberies resulted from unlocked houses and cars that made it rather simple for someone to steal from them (and though it's sad we don't live in a society where we can still leave things unlocked, that's long gone for most of us). And, of course, there's a great deal more to this situation: the state of the economy, our culture's widening gap between those who have and those who don't, our culture's intensifying focus on (to quote a Pink Floyd song) "us and them," and all sorts of other things that affect individuals and groups, not to mention the fact that our town's leaders allowed a maximum security prison to be built nearby (leveling a huge swath of forest), so those who are newly incarcerated or released and their families who visit end up hanging around, which many believe adds to the problems our town experiences.
And so, that prosecuting attorney staying next door----the one who successfully presented a case against some meth dealers----has taken it upon himself to "warn" his landlady (my friend) about the folks he sees walking by who have prison records or are in some sort of trouble with the law. My friend asked him----What do you want me to do about it? I likened this to our former illustrious president's travel warnings: So, it's a code "orange": what do we do?
Maintain perspective and don't let fear rule.
