Riots in the street

I find myself in the uncomfortable position of having to explain to my young children why there are people in the streets lighting police stations on fire. There are no easy answers here. The sad reality is that if this had happened a year ago George Floyd would have been lucky to trend for a day before he was forgotten. But this is 2020 and the world has changed. People who a year ago would have scrolled past his unfortunate death are now becoming emotionally involved in the suffering of a stranger. Thanks to the pandemic and the subsequent quarantine people who once felt safe and secure are now feeling scared, angry, helpless, and hopeless. How do you fight a disease you can’t even see. A global pandemic is so much bigger than any one individual and the numbers have grown so large that they have become unreal. People throughout the country are now suddenly able to emotionally connect to a man who died feeling helpless, begging for one last breath as he was crushed beneath something beyond his control. And since we as a people are not able to protest against a virus, rallying against the police or a corrupt government system finally gives those who feel powerless a chance to take the power back. Or at least give them the illusion that they have power in a situation far beyond their control. It’s not an excuse, but at least it makes the actions taken on the streets understandable. Who knows, maybe this new found empathy will make us all better than we were before.