Get Off My Lawn - I doubt they will.

"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end with doubts, but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties." – Francis Bacon

On Memorial Day, we pause to remember those brave Americans who have given the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of this country. Sadly, in 2022, we have to add the victims and families of the senseless violence in Uvalde that took 21 lives, 19 of which were children. In the wake of such violence, it is human nature to explore the inhumanity of it all - how could this happen? who would do such a thing? how do we stop this?

In the end, it is the last question that carries the most resonance, as human beings instinctively feel the loss of human life, especially children. I have been jaded, or programmed, not to listen to a single word a politician says after such a tragedy, as the rush for scoring points only seems to increase the emptiness. Enter Steve Kerr, head coach of the Golden State Warriors - OK, a non politician heading to the microphone just hours before a big playoff game. Before he started talking, it was obvious that he was visibly upset.

“I’m not going to talk about basketball. Nothing’s happened with our team in the last six hours. We’re going to start the same way tonight. Any basketball questions don’t matter.

Since we left shootaround, 14 children were killed 400 miles from here, and a teacher. In the last 10 days, we’ve had elderly black people killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, we’ve had Asian churchgoers killed in Southern California, now we have children murdered at school.

When are we going to do something? I’m tired. I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there. I’m so tired. Excuse me. I’m sorry. I’m tired of the moments of silence. Enough.”

Enough. You’re damned right enough! Let’s figure this out. We have to stop it. He continued.

“There’s 50 Senators right now who refuse to vote on HR8, which is a background check rule that the House passed a couple years ago. It’s been sitting there for two years. There’s a reason they won’t vote on it: to hold onto power.

I ask you, Mitch McConnell, all of you Senators who refuse to do anything about the violence, school shootings, supermarket shootings, I ask you: Are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers? Because that’s what it looks like. That’s what we do every week.”

Politics? That’s the answer? I immediately tuned everything out from that point forward. In that instant, Steve Kerr was no different than any other politician advocating for gun control or telling us that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Still searching for answers, I tried some inner reflection, which usually involves breaking things down in an effort to solve the simple problems first. Wasn’t working!

Back to the beginning - the first tenet of critical thinking, in my opinion, is being open to the possibility of being completely wrong. On this issue of school shootings, I am sad to say that I don’t have the answers, but I am hoping to hear viable solutions, and quick. Being open to the possibility of being wrong was never more important than now. Both sides claiming to be right on this issue hasn’t produced a single solution, only more vitriol. The sad irony is that there appears to be an inverse relationship between the ability to solve a problem and the seriousness of the problem itself. Enough!

Complex problems contain many layers and are therefore seldom solved by simplistic attempts. Take Steve Kerr, for example - he obviously thinks the answer is HR8 and universal background checks. In his mind, he is right and those 50 senators are wrong. Add on the seriousness of this issue, and his being right very quickly becomes righteousness, which in turns make those 50 senators wicked. And how do the righteous deal with the wicked? By calling them wicked, of course! And the wicked, draped in their own righteousness, do nothing, the problem persists, and the cycle continues. We need to flip the paradigm - one’s certainty in the solution must lessen as the seriousness of the matter increases. Doing this will allow us all to doubt ourselves, and in so doing, open us up to other ideas. Problems solved.

As I ponder the meaning of Memorial Day, I will pray for those service men and women who gave their lives for this country. I will also pray for the innocent victims of the Uvalde shooting, but I imagine I will spend most of my porch time praying for serious people to come together to solve serious problems.

Enough! Let’s be divided over taxes, loan forgiveness, you know, the rules we live by - not the ones that are killing our innocents.

P.S. Before you post a comment, you may be wrong! I know I am.