I’m struggling — like most Americans these days. I watch the news and think I know beyond a doubt what I’m seeing. Yet, I have family members who watch the news and see something completely different.
I force myself to look at different news sources: Fox, CNN, Reuters, AP
I try to mentally sidestep to a different vantage point.
Personally, the immigrants I know are wonderful people. They have escaped repressive regimes. They have stories to tell. They love living and working here.
One friend, though, from Cuba, a naturalized citizen of the US, is afraid to leave her home these days. I told a family member about her.
“Why would she be afraid?” I was asked.
Umm… racial profiling? Her life experiences before the US? I could make guesses, but my life in no way mirrors her. I will never fully understand. But she’s my friend, and I can try to support her.
This shooting in Minneapolis? The videos are out and available, but everyone watches them differently. I see a woman who blocks the street with her vehicle, but then smiles at the officer, hands in plain view, and says, “I’m not mad at you.” Her partner is more aggressive, more profane. Is the driver trying to kill or harm the ICE officer? Judging her demeanor seconds before, I would say not. And someone (the officer?), after the shooting, can be heard saying “F*cking B*tch”. AND they won’t allow a doctor to attend to her.
But that’s how I see it. That’s my opinion.
An impartial and thorough investigation would be wise and prudent, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen either.
Judgments have been made.
I often wonder about Nazi Germany — and I know that even bringing it up sounds hostile. Still, at what point was the evil of Hitler clear? Was it when they were requiring yellow stars? Or was it when they were rounding people up onto cattle cars? Or was there some other trigger? What did mothers tell their children when this was happening to their neighbors?
I have family members — people I love — who see the ICE and Minneapolis thing differently. I found myself thinking about this poem this morning. Am I missing something? Am I not seeing the whole picture?
THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT
by John Godfrey Saxe
IT was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me!—but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried: “Ho!—what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ‘t is mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”
The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he;
“‘T is clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
MORAL:
So, oft in theologic wars
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
This is my response to JusJoJan’s prompt today: opinion
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 
I am equally as gob smacked. I cannot even collect my thoughts from there.
Honestly, if this were a book, this would be the place where I skip to the end to see how it turns out. I’m so afraid things are going to get even worse before they get any better.
I want to give your post at least 5 stars! This is so well written. Thank you!
I also wonder what the trigger was in Hitler’s Germany when enough was enough and the tide turned on him, so to speak. Sadly, horrifically, ICE is emboldened now. These shootings are practice to see what they can get away with. Now they know.
I hate that I’m living through a wannabe-regime that idolizes Hitler’s Germany, and I don’t use the word hate lightly. But I hope to live long enough to witness the equivalent of the Nuremberg Trials take these m-fers and their leaders down.
Sally, this is exactly why I never discuss politics with anyone, not even my family. We were out to dinner one night years ago with my husband’s identical twin brother and his wife. My brother-in-law, who has since passed away, saw something one way while my husband saw it another way. This was the biggest political topic they ever disagreed on, and the conversation became heated. My brother-in-law looked like fire was going to shoot out of his eyes, and it would not have surprised me if they came to blows. From that night on, my husband and I swore we would never talk politics with his brother again and it remained a sore point between them until the day he died. What a waste of time and a stain on a beautiful relationship.
Politics are ripping apart, my country and my family. It makes me so sad.
You’re not alone in your observations, Sally. We’re all fearing for our lives. 🩵