Monthly Archives: August 2014

“They Pushed God Right Out of the Room!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07x88Hgj1vM

This incident started with one of these family members slashing the tires on the car of another family member. And from there, (I know you won’t expect the rest of this sentence) …It was a GREAT lesson for my kids! Sure it’s a video of people acting a hott mess and no one wants to show their kids a video of adults acting a hott mess… but what if they can learn about energy from the example? And since there is no sound on the actual video – that makes this video a GOLD MIND!!! (Gold for the Mind :))

I watched the video first… making notes of all the points I wanted to cover for my kids. Then, I prefaced the viewing with all the things I wanted them to observe. (I felt that just letting them watch it would be an attack on their senses. I wanted to make this a positive lesson, not an action movie for entertainment.) After I told them what they were about to see – Adults making bad choices and creating BAD energy – I shared the video with them, stopping it at various parts and pointing out the points I wanted them to “see”.

“Watch the actions of the Big Dog on the right hand side as the wave of energy builds in the front.” We concluded that the “good guys” recognized that the energy was shifting and they made their way to the back, away from it.

I also pointed out that when energy is building like that, people stop caring about safety. I pointed out how everyone, even the small children, had to look out for themselves. “That is not a loving environment,” I said, “and when we see this stuff building up… we find a way out until the energy changes.”

At one point in the escalation I paused the video to ask, “Now where is God in this?”

And my son said, “He’s in the back, in a Dog Suit rescuing the kids from all that craziness!”

Then, Cayden said quickly, “Mommy, they pushed God right out of the room!”

I said, “That is absolutely right! They pushed God right out of the room with their drama. So where do we want to be?”

They both answered, “Wherever God is!”

I reinforced that idea. I told them, “If we were in that room while all the energy was building in the front, I would start making my way to the back with the Big Dog!” They agreed.

Then I asked them what THEY saw. I was careful to listen to what they were taking inside their hearts and minds. One thing I didn’t notice was a child who ran forward, from the safety of the back to observe more of the fight. My son caught that and asked, “Why would you run back into it if you were safe away from it?” I told him that some people are attracted to this kind of energy. Some people create it, and seek it out. “But we aren’t those people.”

I asked one last time if they had any more questions on what they saw. And my son, knowing the cause of the fight said, “I know what I would do after I got out of the room. I would pump up the slashed tires and then run back in and yell, ‘Ok everybody! You can stop fighting! The tires are fixed!’ and then maybe they would be happy again. Then, maybe they would cut and eat that big cake together.”

Wow – I didn’t even see the cake!

What is the Norm?

There’s a lot of talk around the 10 minute Mike Brown EyeWitness Crime Scene Video. The press is all over the background conversation that starts at minute 6:30 because of the witness’ report of Mr. Brown “turning back” and attacking the officer. Before you watch it again, I’d like you to consider something that many overlook.

At min. 6:30, the witness is sharing what he saw, while the listener expresses shock as it begins to register in his mind that the man was shot by a police officer. He (and a few others) are floored at this account. He is so stunned, that he asks for the information to be repeated several times. The shock continues for many minutes. It continues on into minute 8:50 where the listener begins to share his own thoughts after he heard the shots go off. 

The listener says that when he heard the shots go off, he thought it was a black person who was “dumpin’ [his gun out] on somebody”. He heard the gun going off from his more distant location, and made that assumption. He then carried that assumption as he walked out to the scene of the crime to investigate the happening. 

He sees the man laying in the street, and the people surrounding the police tape, yet nothing from the scene changes his original conclusion. In his mind, that man is laying dead in the street, because a black citizen killed him.

He then seeks out a witness, and asks for the details around what just happened. He listens to the entire account through the lens of his original assumption. Not until minute 6:55 does it click in his mind that the shooter was not a citizen, but a police officer. He is in complete disbelief for several minutes, asking several times to confirm that this new data is accurate. You can listen to his thoughts on the situation as he shares his original conclusion again with the witness. 

This section of the video should not be ignored. This section should not be dismissed. This section proves two very distinct “norms” that have been adopted by members of this community: 

#1 If you hear gun shots, it is probably a black citizen shooting another black citizen. 

#2 It is shockingly rare for a citizen to be shot by a police officer. 

We should remember these norms when we hear people using this case to sell the idea that the “police are out to kill black men”. Listen to the conversation on this video. The energy of *shock* enters because this shooting is outside of the norms of this community. This is a rare event.

Don’t lose hold of that truth. If it is found that this officer did something tragically wrong in this case, we must remember that this case represents an outlier. Repel the energy that would dare to change your mind on what you know is sound truth. Our society empowers police to serve and protect the citizens. If officers are acting outside of that power, then we remove those officers from their service. We don’t suddenly declare something that is normally “rare”, as “common”. It is not common for police to shoot and kill citizens.

If we can be honest with this, maybe we’ll move to a place where we can stop accepting something that *has* become common in our communities. Maybe we will be ready to change our feelings around Norm #1.