Land of the free, home of the brave, and yet that doesn’t encompass the whole truth.
The truth is we are a broken society that has taken advantage of the freedoms allowed to us. We raise our children to love thy brother, but suddenly there are stipulations on who is worthy of that love.
Brave is the police officer who wakes up every morning and dresses for a shift knowing that he took an oath to protect and serve no matter the circumstances. Brave is the police officer forced to ingest the venomous words spurting out of the mouth of a man who is bitterly acting upon feelings derived a lifetime ago.
Cowards are the trolls on social media who claim police brutality is the cause of all this hate. Coward is the media storm that focuses on the hypothetical cause of the damage that is done rather than the effort of all of those in uniform risking their lives in a city turned warzone overnight. Shame on the media outlets that broadcast footage of countless men and woman heaving stones at police cars.
As the daughter of a police officer, I used to feel proud to know that my family, my friends and my home are protected by one of the best men I know. Now, the only feeling I know is fear. Why do we deserve such dedicated men and women protecting us when we don’t even do what we can to respect them? I am not saying that every officer of the law is perfect, but that, by no means, warrants the recent riots in Ferguson and Baltimore.
Black lives matter. Yes, but all lives matter, and those describing life worth based on the color of skin should be ashamed of their contradictory remarks. How do people battle equality when they place labels on themselves and others from the start?
How am I, a teacher, supposed to instill the core value of respect in my kids when all they have to do is turn on the television or log on to social media to witness the disgraceful messages spewed everywhere condemning those I just told them to hold in highest regard?
We spent weeks in the fall exploring what it means to be a good citizen, what it means to treat others the way they should be treated, how a successful community has no place for bullying, and why choosing to be a bystander is just as guilty as the person who committed a hurtful act. With that being said, look at the examples my students are left to look to, to follow. If a single person explains something one way while five others explain it another, who is right?
I’m angry, hurt, disgusted and worried for the state of our country, my home. It’s important for my thoughts to be heard, to be received and to be responded to, because keeping it all inside makes me just as guilty as the protesters stomping on the tops of police cars with no motive other than foolish pride.
I want to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I want to believe that I can wake up each morning and not have to worry for the people I love. That will not happen until we recognize that pointed fingers are loaded guns, and we cannot afford to pull the triggers.
Holocaust survivor Estelle Laughlin said, “It is not enough to curse the darkness of the past. Above all we have to illuminate the future.” Have we not learned from our wrongdoing? Does it benefit us to persecute each other day after day for things we cannot change?
I know it will take time, as wounds do not heal overnight, but we owe it to our ancestors, to our service men and women, and to ourselves to fight together to be a nation of one, not a war zone of many. Think before you speak, and if you want to point a finger, be prepared to have a dozen pointed back at you because that is what true Americans do: stick together.
Kelsey DeRaps, a Bangor native, teaches seventh- and eighth-grade English and writing at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden.