So, have you seen it yet?

In the wake of the recent tragic shooting of the young teenager, Mike Brown, that took place on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri not long ago, I feel compelled to share a few words of encouragement.

I can’t turn on my TV or computer without seeing a leading headline or caption about the aftermath of the shooting incident.

As a black male growing up in the 1970’s and 80’s in the mean-streets of Dallas, Texas, I must admit that I’ve had my fair share of encounters with the men and women in uniform who have sworn to protect and serve our community. And, as an adult I still manage to get pulled over every now-and-then for excessive speed, but all-in-all, to date my interactions with the men and women in uniform has never resulted in an altercation. Why? Well, I can only speculate, but it just might be because I have always had a healthy respect for myself and for those around me including those in the position of authority. And, I was taught at an early age that “We get back what we put out, good or not-so-good”.

I’m not much of a gambling man, but if I was, I would definitely NOT consider betting on winning an argument or altercation with a person with a gun, a fast car and a badge of authority behind them with a team of well-organized ride-to-die comrades. I would just rather Be Nice, get through the moment and go on my merry way to live another day.

The real truth appears to be that our youth are hurting inside and have a huge void of those who would act as an appropriate role model for how they should conduct themselves in the community, and as a result, many are filling in the gaps with negative stuff that they see or hear on the TV, the YouTube and the damaged Adults and Teens in their neighborhoods.

The sad, unfortunate reality is that things will NEVER change until we change. Yes my friends, real change starts with “US”, that person staring back at us in the mirror. Yep, this goes for me too. NOT the marches, NOT the looting, NOT the violence and flagrantly-reckless and profane behaviors perpetrated by the young and not-so-young on the streets.

One of life’s most ironclad guarantees is that nothing will change until we change. So one of our biggest mistake is when we look outward for change when it actually should originate from within. I think Ghandi said it best when he said, “We have to be the change that we want to see in this world.”

For years I’ve continued my quest to place myself in the path of our youth and said “Watch me”, in hopes that they will not just hear what I say, but also do what I do. So a good question today is, are you doing your part? Are your words and actions in front of our youth worthy of positive plagiarism? Are you displaying a positive picture of how to deal with explosive moments of life’s adversity? Are you modeling a behavior of giving respect even in the most tense of situations? Hmmm…

Our uniformed officers may be guilty of a lot of things, but the biggest thing that they’re guilty of is being “Human”. And, as such, humans can be volatile, unpredictable and out-of-control in the fiery moments of altercations and confrontations and as with the general public, so too is some behaviors of law enforcement absolutely inexcusable. But if you haven’t noticed already, we actually have a much larger problem with people harming and killing each other all over America on the streets and a lot of it has to do with respect and disrespect that escalates and gets out-of-control. So, again I say it starts with “ME”!

So I propose that we call a truce and start over. The 1967 hit song “All You Need is Love” by the Beatles was a song that is evergreen and timeless for the ages. So, from the top down, let’s all agree to model that behavior that gives love, respect and dignity to all no matter the color, shape, size and flavor. Let’s put away any resentment or malice or notions of perceived threat and start anew. Let’s start to question that which we were taught by our dysfunctional gaps in our environment and re-think the process of what it takes to have peaceful interactions. Let’s press the “Delete” button on the violence and “Enter” the love and peace and willingness to understand before seeking to be understood. And, even more importantly, let’s encourage and model the same for our youth. They need us now more than ever before to step up and show them how to be GREAT!

From the politicians to the police to the people on the streets, whoever you be, look in the mirror and realize that “IT STARTS WITH ME!!!!!!”

Or maybe I’m just dreaming this is possible..……. Hmmm…

www.MrBreadCrumb.com
www.CedricCrawford.com