Be grateful.

The dictionary says “disruptive,” “troubled,” “disorderly’ or “turbulent”. Personally, it was all that and one more word, “inspiring.” The way the protests started here in Salt Lake City were frightening but understandable. We have been under the cloud of COVID-19 for 3 months along with all the obligatory fear-mongering that goes with it. The job losses historic and the economic free-fall unprecedented. Anxiety was already numbing and then came the murder of George Floyd. An already tense and angry nation only needed a spark to erupt into a chant heard around the world. On Saturday I was fearful; ours is a peaceful community and to see vehicles burning, buildings defaced and windows smashed was difficult to watch. The anger I could understand but not the looting and violence; I didn’t see how that honored the murdered man. Apparently many felt the same because the mood began evolving into energy rather than violence and the crowds continued growing exponentially. On Thursday evening I watched as people started gathering in the commons by the University of Utah. After an hour or so I heard chanting and looked out my window to see hundreds marching peacefully down my street towards downtown. My condo looks out from the eighth floor towards the University on one side and the city on the other, giving me an extraordinary view of history. It is impossible to legislate against racism; you can’t make people care but you can take away the tools used to propagate the hate, and maybe-just maybe we as a people can say “NO” to the injustice against all people of color and actually mean it.

It is easy to spin things around and focus on your own issues or problems. There are any number of topics to choose from; my two personal ones are a drastic decline in income and grappling with getting old. As this week has shown me, there are far bigger and more critical issues to concern myself with. I have never considered myself bigoted but at some level I’m sure I am which makes me want to explore my feelings more deeply. I desire to be part of the solution, not the problem. I have never feared the police-ever. Granted, I have never been in a position that would put me in harms way, but I have always been white which makes all the difference in the world.

I am reminded of a conversation I had as a young sales rep in the late 70’s. I was making sales calls with a veteran European salesman. He was promoting a line of equipment developed in Europe that was finding increased popularity in the U.S. and I was his host as we demoed this equipment throughout rural Utah and Idaho. This allowed for a lot of deverse conversation between calls. One of the topics was politics, and since the effects of Watergate was global and still fairly recent, it became our subject. Being a young novice in politics, I thought I’d impress my guest by apologizing for the actions of our President. I’m not sure why I felt compelled to do this but I did, and was stopped mid-apology. “Do you have any idea how much the world admired America?” he asked. “To have a country were you can peacefully replace the most powerful man in the free-world without bloodshed is only a dream for most countries and you should feel proud, not apologetic!” I was stunned! I had it all wrong and learned a valuable lesson that day, we are truly the greatest country in the world and this is why. My point here is I think, as a general populous, we have been apathetic about most things. Yes, there are many important and vital issues but most of us can’t get off the sofa to say anything. As long as we have a convenient keyboard we are good, so for us to physically attend a protest even making a sign and screaming for hours; you are kidding right? George Floyd was a rallying cry that EVERYONE heard like never before, but unlike shameful incidents before, people were outraged and did something on a grand scale. And you know what? Our democracy is still standing, this time with a whole new attitude and purpose.