Diane Robertson
If you have been watching the news, listening to the radio, following twitter, or even just browsing your Facebook feed, it would have been impossible to miss the unrest occurring in the streets around the nation. Maybe you’ve had conversations with your friends and family about racism, crime, laws, policemen, homicide, protests, rioting, and looting. The news coming from Fergusen, MO and the Eric Garner case leave plenty to discuss and to think over.
In conversations online, I’ve noticed two things.
- People think policemen and laws should be obeyed no matter what and then there would be peace.
- The policemen are always bullies, often racist and violent, and need to be brought in line.
First, I disagree with complete obedience all of the time no matter what. The United States would not have become its own nation, and the Constitution and world-wide democracies would not have been established without disobedience to authoritarian laws and governments. If everyone obeyed all of the Nazi’s laws, many more Jews would have been killed during the Holocaust. The ending of slavery and the beginning of civil rights would not have occurred if everyone kept every law all the time.
Second, we need the police. They enforce the laws and keep the peace. We need peace to prosper, build our lives, and care for our families. We may not feel grateful when we see those flashing lights in our rearview mirror, but we do feel grateful when they arrest and subdue thieves, abusers, and murderers.
The middle ground comes when people are moral. We need good police officers. We need good law makers. We need good citizens. How do we teach people to be good? We teach them in the home. Children learn morality, love, and kindness best through example. That important daily example comes in the family. There is a reason the family has been called the fundamental unit of society.
Research has shown again and again that children do best when raised by their married mother and father. If we really want peace, love, and prosperity, then we need to be moral. We need to marry, stay married, and raise our children together in love. What does America need most? America needs strong families.