Disconnected…

Anger.  Rage.  Anarchy.  Destruction…Disappointment.  These words sum of what I felt last night as I watched the Riots in Ferguson go from a peaceful protest to a looting in a liquor store and the torching of cars and buildings.  Disappointment would be what I felt the most.  The failure of the officials to protect the town.  Their failure to release the results of the indictment at the late hour.  The failure of the angry to let cooler and calmer heads speak out and take leadership.  What was even more was that I felt all of it was pointless once I saw the O’Reilly’s auto parts store that was being looted.  Did they have a right to be angry?  Yes and no.  Was Officer Wilson acting in self-defense when he shot young Michael Brown?  I don’t know, I wasn’t there to witness the event.  I do know that my parents and teachers all distilled into me that if a Police officer tells you to do something you do it.  The fact that he attacked a cop is being downplayed by the angry.  They sight injustice and racism as motives for the shooting and the decision of the Grand Jury.  So, when did we stop holding Michael Brown responsible for his own actions?  Because he’s dead he’s given a free pass?  Will we give Usama/Osama Bin Laden a free pass because he’s dead now?  He’s no longer responsible for orchestrating 9/11?  It was all the Taliban?  Let’s push all the responsibility of that attack off on them.  Michael, you made a bad decision and it cost you your life.  Unfortunately, your death is just one more in a growing trend of young black Americans being killed by white police officers.  So…let’s just ignore the fact that other cities protested peacefully last night.  Let’s just allow Ferguson to continue being an eye-sore for us Americans in the next coming days because ignorance is going run rampart the longer we allow it to run.    To me this is just another growing trend of our not taking responsibility for ourselves.  You can’t attack a police officer, whether he’s white, black, brown, tanned, yellow, whatever; and expect to get away without suffering the consequences.  Leadership of Ferguson, protect your community and do what needs to be done to protect your law enforcement officials and fire fighters.  As evident from last night, those young angry people were not interested in the community.  They were only interested in lashing out.  To those of you who are parents, I ask that you teach your kids not to hate cops.  Police Officers are supposed to be guardians of the community and our citizens.  They are there to protect us when necessary and needed.  Not only that, but teach them about respect.  To respect themselves, their parents, elders and others.  We have grown to be so involved and politically correct that we no longer feel the need to teach what is right and wrong.  Are there going to be bad apples?  Of course there are.  But we need to knuckle down and teach them as our parents taught us.  Are we smarter than them?  Possibly, so why are our kids worse than what we were growing up?  Smarter does not always mean better.  Responsibility.  Own up to your choices and decisions.