In the Wednesday, 28 June 2023, edition of the Star Tribune, the following headlines indicated the level of violence and bad decisions that had resulted in unfortunate episodes across the globe, the nation, and the state of Minnesota >>>>>
As to national and international events, there were
the following headlines >>>>>
National and International
“Pedestrian Deaths at Highest Levels in Forty-One Years”
The data in the article come from The Governors
Highway Safety Association, giving a figure of 7,508 pedestrian deaths in 2022,
continuing a rise that has been especially acute since 2010, when a figure
given by federal data indicated 4,302 pedestrian deaths in that year.
“Deputies Accused of Assault of Two Black Men Are
Fired”
The headline is associated with an incident in
Jackson, Mississippi, in which at least five deputy sheriffs tased and sexually
abused two unarmed African American men in an apartment drug raid that yielded
no illicit substances.
“Landmark Study Shows Higher Suicide Risk for Trans
People”
The data cited comes from governmental compilations
in Denmark, where such data, unlike in the United States, is collected from a
centralized repository that allows rigorously controlled studies; in Denmark, transgender people have 7.7 times
the rate of suicide attempts than is the case with the general population and
3.5 times the rate of suicide deaths.
“DOJ Finds Epstein’s Death Was Suicide”
The article pertains to the sex trafficking case of
Jeffrey Epstein, abuser of very young females at an insular cite he owned in
the Virgin Islands, where he entertained numerous famous governmental figure
and entertainers.
“Report: FBI,
DHS Ignored January 6 Warning”
The report comes from the Senate Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs Committee, finding that the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence
and Analysis has an abundance of evidence that the Proud Boys and other groups
were preparing to foment violence of the sort that on 11 January 2021 did in
fact witness 2,000 rioters causing more that $2.7 million in damage at the
Capitol.
“Violence Set to Drive One Million from Sudan, U. N.
Reports”
The account refers to the fighting in Sudan between
the governmental army and nongovernmental paramilitary units, especially the
organization known as Rapid Support Forces;
at least 3,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million people have been
displaced in a struggle for power that on the part of the paramilitary forces
targets non-Arab populations such as the African Masalit ethnic community.
As to events in Minnesota, there were the following
headlines >>>>>
Minnesota, State and Local
“Business Executive Dies in Plane Crash”
Suspicions of a suicide crash abide in this case of
Paul Ehlen, majority owner of Bloomington-based Precision Lens, just a few months
after Ehlen was found guilty of violating anti-kickback statutes and the False
Claims Act.
“Teen Gets Eight-Year Term for Armed Robberies”
The case involves an 18 year-old male who had been
found guilty of nine robberies of a variety of business establishments; the youth in question, who had been charged
with over 30 cases since 2017, cited a “messed-up childhood” and lack of needed
medications for his offenses, for which he seems genuinely remorseful.
“Man Working at MSP Accused of Recording Staff
Restroom Videos”
The case involves a 36 year-old male employee at Minneapolis-St.
Paul International Airport who over a six-month period took at least 143 cell
phone videos of males using restrooms at the airport.
“Seventeen Year-Old Charged with Murdering Man
Linked to Ghost Gun Scheme”
Also charged in the murder of a 24 year-old apparent
illegal gun manufacturer were three 19 year-olds
who were allegedly accomplices in the homicide and
theft case.
“Charges:
Woman Run Over By Pick-Up
In this case, an adult male high on methamphetamine
ran over the head of an adult woman after, hanging on to the driver-side door
of his car as she tried to retrieve keys that the male had snatched from her
car, the woman had fallen to the ground of the gas station parking lot where
the incident occurred.
“Former Police Chief Sexually Assaulted Child”
The case involves a former police chief of the
Native American Mille Lacs Band of the Ojibwe people,
for sexual abuse that occurred from 2009 to
2015; the former police chief is also
facing charges for similar assaults dating to the early 1990s.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Humankind does not have to behave this way.
There are those in the world who devote themselves
to righteous causes, heal the sick, care for the infirm, create brilliant
music, design ecofriendly and aesthetically pleasing edifices, author great
literary works, and create elegant productions in the visual arts.
But clearly much of humanity dwells in ignorance,
poverty, and violence. Most nations are
terribly governed, with democracy scarcely witnessed aside from those few
imperfect examples found in North America, northern and western Europe, in the
Asian-Pacific (Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan), and in very
politically messy India. And in those
imperfect democracies, internecine strife according to ethnicity, religion, and
citizenship status is rife. Many people
live out their one earthly sojourn ensconced in front of television sets or
indulging in meaningless amusements via Tik Toc, YouTube, and other social
media platforms.
Why, if people are capable of behavior for human
betterment, do they so often act in ways destructive of others and, ultimately,
of themselves?
In the cases above, taken in order, first with those
involving national and international events
the episodes demonstrate
>>>>> an inattentiveness and
in some cases intentional cruelty on the part of drivers and distraction or
carelessness on the part of pedestrians;
>>>>> the racism that we have
witnessed on the part of police forces across the nation, particularly with African
Americans as targets;
>>>>> the continuing
difficulty of life, despite definite improvements in societal attitudes, of
living life with a nonbinary sexual identity;
>>>>> the lack of purpose and
lack of appreciation for those aspects of life that are truly aesthetically enriching
that define the existences of so many people of wealth and power;
>>>>> the low information base
that leads so many people vulnerable to misinformation and the failure of those
in positions of responsibility to anticipate the despicable actions of which
ill-informed and emotionally desperate people are capable;
>>>>> the catastrophic impact
of imperialism, witnessed not only in the treatment of subjected peoples but
also the unpreparedness of imperialized populations to produce leaders of ability
and compassion.
Then, there are those episodes in Minnesota that demonstrate
>>>>> the corrupting tendencies
of capitalism when unmitigated by dedication to values that ennoble rather than
degrade commercial enterprise;
>>>>> the failure of our educational
and social systems to cultivate youth who find worthwhile activity in physical exercise,
reading, nature, art, music, and exquisite aesthetics, so that too many lives
ensue amidst illicit drugs and gun violence frequently leading to death and an
early age;
>>>>> the aimlessness of so
many young adult lives and those at later stages who never grasped the nature
of meaningful activity or the essence of healthy expressions of sexuality;
>>>>> the failure of our institutions
to provide solid information bases, a sense of ethics, and the importance of
civic responsibility;
>>>>> the spectacle of so many
people given to irrational behavior due to that aimlessness of existence that
prevails when educational and social institutions are inadequate;
>>>>> the poignance of the life
position for historically abused people who with a heavier emotional load must
confront the challenges of ignorance and immorality in which most people dwell.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Life does not have to be this way.
There is at this point in history enough accumulated
experience to comprehend the difference between scientific truth and explanatory
fiction.
There are enough examples of moral paragons to grasp
the wisdom of universal love and compassion for all sentient beings.
Although far too few, we do have those examples of polymaths,
those Renaissance persons who have extremely limited time for foolishness, so busy
are they exploring the possibilities in all fields of endeavor.
Life does not have to be so inadequate as life is as
a rule and as corrupted as life is in the existences of so many on this one
earthly sojourn.
Life does not have to be this way, but to hasten the
ascent to an elevated quality of life, we must realize that human meaning lies
in the quest for universal good, broad and deep knowledge, and appreciation
both for the natural world and creations of artistic genius.
Such realization cannot come from free will actors
but from those who have learned from human experience and are able to design institutions
that operate according to what has been learned and what can be progressively extrapolated
from that experience.
Then all human beings must be provided public
education that is knowledge-intensive, skill-replete, productive of broad and
deep information bases, and promotive of discussion as to the constituent
elements of higher ethics.
The dissemination of shared knowledge and ethics,
then, is the key to realizing life’s potential in the human ascent to an
elevated quality of life.
Life does not have be lived in such wretchedly
stupid ways as now prevail.
But for the realization of human potential on this
one earthly sojourn we must proceed quickly to design public education of
genuine excellence.
