Be Safe

To all my friends, both online and in real life, please be safe. These are tough times: COVID, job losses due, in part, to COVID, and now the rioting among those who don't understand (or care) the difference between peaceful protests that affect positive change and violence that makes things much, much worse.

Be safe, if you're part of the protests. Remember: peace begets peace, violence begets violence.

Be safe, if you're a journalist - print, network news, independent, photographer - letting the public know what's going on, especially (but not exclusively) if you're a person of color (non-white). We need you to STAY SAFE!

Be safe, if you're a police officer, firefighter/EMT/paramedic, member of the National Guard, etc., and remember those protesting peacefully are your brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, decent human beings...and act accordingly.

Be safe, if you run across police, firefighters, National Guard, etc. Remember that they are also your brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, decent human beings...and act accordingly.

We are all in this together. If we can remember that, if we can remember that most of us are decent people, if we hold the bad accountable while helping each other out, no matter that person's race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or any other "different-from-me," we can get through this.

One last thought: in 5, 10, 20 years, when someone asks you, "What did you do during 2020, when everything was going to hell?", how do you want to be able to respond? That you made a positive difference in someone's life? Or that you were a violent vandal? Think about that when you go out.

And be safe.

I wrote this yesterday, with one or two minor changes, and posted it on Facebook after reading and viewing reports, including in the Tampa Bay Times and other newspapers and network news, of violence and looting during protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. The anger is understandable; most people - regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, etc - have expressed anger at his death, and how it happened. The peaceful protests can hopefully have a positive affect on life; violence and looting won't help at all.