Monday Musings...
Before I get into the "meat & potatoes" to day's post, I want to start out of the gate
with an "appetizer" of sorts. And on a day such as this, we should be mindful that many times, our freedom comes...with a price.
*** A Lakewood NJ police officer was killed Friday around 1700 hours during a routine stop.
Lakewood is a nice town along the NJ shore up around Tom's River (further north than Atlantic City).
I've driven through there many times for business as well as pleasure. Wouldn't be a bad place to settle down and retire.
Here's the link to the story:
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/new_jersey/police-officer-shot-in-lakewood-20110114-apx
And less than TWO days later, the suspect (Jahmell Crockam, 19) was arrested, with bail set at FIVE MILLION DOLLARS (cash), which shows that good tips and followups do produce RESULTS.
Here's the link to THIS story:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/01/suspect_in_lakewood_police_off_1.html

Officer Chris Matlosz, 27, was engaged to be married.
The shooter was captured in an aprtment in CAMDEN, NJ (about 90 miles from the scene), a societal cesspool along the Delaware river if EVER there was one.
I begin today with that sad story, because we are commemorating something that is SO important regarding stories such as this, as well as the recent Tucson shootings.
Unfortunately, Officer Matlosz will not be here to see it.
So bear with me, as I'm going to "borrow" a bit from last year's post (about today), for any and all who didn't get to read it THEN.
*** Today in America, is the celebration day of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
It is a day to remember, to reflect, and perhaps become invigorated anew with the teachings of Dr. King.
Now I'm one of those "twisted" white people that actually embraces the fundamental precepts of Dr. King. I believe we ALL can learn from what he had to say, and thereby benefit AS A SOCIETY from those words of his. To me, much of what he said ranks right up there with what a lot of what our founding fathers spoke all those years ago.
For example, we ALL recall the "I have a dream" speech Dr. King gave.
Well today, some in the black community HAVE realized and attained the dream...some are still waiting FOR that dream to be realized. And still others of the black community couldn't give a rat's backside as to whatever dream Dr King envisioned.
Any "dream" these people have can be found on the AMOUNT line of that free government check...or in that small bit of plastic bag containing that rock of crack cocaine...or on the trigger of a gun.
And that's pretty damn sad.
If any of these people see Dr. King at all, it's as a convenient crutch, and not the orator or civil rights leader that he was.
They will invoke his name out one side of their mouths, while claiming the "po me" rhetoric out the other side, all the while doing NOTHING for themselves.
I don't recall ONE instance where Dr. King EVER said that equality was not something to work toward...or fight for.
He NEVER said "sit back on your black asses and everything will come to you because OF your blackness".
Where would be the struggle there?
And yet, this is exactly was has happened.
Dr. King knew full well that being EMPOWERED, and challenging ONESELF was the key to overcoming prejudice in this nation.
In many ways, one could say that the BEST way to be equal TO "the white man" is to be a BETTER white man THAN the white man.
And I have met my share of those who ARE better than many whites I have known, and to which I would gladly give the shirt of my back for them in that regard.
They were not my "black" friends...they were MY FRIENDS...period.
Dr. King once said: "I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I believe that with all my heart, and practice it with EVERY person I meet of any race, nationality or religion.
It's your CHARACTER that will determine how I will view you.
YOU will demonstrate to ME who you are, and how you wish me to view you...or judge you in that way.
A little more than 25% of America's population is black, and out of that number, about 25% (of that number) are the ones to which we can attribute most all the crime in the black community (and crime in general). And yet, many tend to view ALL blacks as this minority of the minority.
I do not.
I know who is the "wheat", and who is the "chaff".
We've even gone so far as to ban a WORD because of it, simply due to the fact that some people label ALL blacks with this incorrect and highly inappropriate moniker.
This is NOT part of Dr. King's dream...nor is it any part of any dream I've had.
I'd like to think that "IF" all those who do nothing with their lives, except to sponge off of the government, would rise up and reclaim THEMSELVES, instead of trading one slave master for another, ALL of us would be a lot better off.
Let's face it, too many blacks today have chosen to become the "wards of the state" in some manner, be they on the government freebie list, or incarcerated.
I'm sorry, but that's selling out to the "planatation owner".
It's worse than being an indentured servant, because you've given up YOUR life totally for one dictated to you by the federal government.
Someone once said: "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
And the way I happen to see it, if we follow the dictate that "ignorance IS bliss", we've got way too many "blissful" people going nowhere...in a hurry...and at everyone else's expense. Not too much equality going on there, hmm?
That "ignorance" quote was by DR. KING, in case you were wondering.
Was Dr. King a saint?
Hell no, but then again...who really IS?
He was only human, but understood his humanity, realizing that HIS humanity was every bit AS GOOD as any other man's humanity.
And THAT is the key that unlocks SO many doors in our lives.
Unfortunately, we have too many in the black community happy to settle with a simple "breaking and entry", when they SHOULD be looking for the damn key.
Dr. King knew that the first priority in one's life was not one born of entertainment...or material things...or even how much one can bother others and treat them with disdain and blatant disrespect.
The FIRST priority was getting one's own "house" cleaned the hell up.
Get yourself right FIRST, and then you can better understand how to get right with others...and even God.
Somehow, all that has gotten lost in the "shuffle" over the decades.
Priorities today may still be centered on SELF, but not in the way that will make one's LIFE better.
It's more about "me, me, me" instead.
Sure, you may have that big-screen, or that phat set of rims, but that does NOT make YOU (as a person) BETTER.
Dr. King knew that without such things as MORALITY...INTEGRITY...RESPONSIBILITY...ETHICS...life was worth spit.
A person's CHARACTER was worth more than any or all the possessions that person could ever hope to accumulate.
And he knew that because the world will see THROUGH the veneer of possessions, and eventually look AT THE PERSON.
The character of a person goes a lot farther to foster a true sense of FREEDOM, and is something that simply cannot be bought (or sold). Our founding fathers knew this all too well.
It was said that: "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."
Seemed to work in our War for Independence pretty damn well.
But it wasn't Thomas Jefferson, or Ben Franklin, or even George Washington who said it.
It was none other than DR. KING himself.
I find it almost incomprehensible that I (a white person) can understand and appreciate what Dr. King has said so much more than so many blacks I see living around me. It should be the other way around, right?
Maybe, it's all about education.
"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence PLUS character - that is the goal of true education"...
Wow...ANOTHER Dr. King quote.
Imagine that.
Do I consider Dr. King a great BLACK man?
No...but I DO consider him to be a GREAT MAN...period.
And perhaps in many ways, that might be the BEST way to remember him.
What makes any person befitting of greatness in the eyes of the people should never have a "color".
So take some time today and listen or read some Dr. King...and be enlightened by the real messages to ALL of us.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.