August 12 -- I just read an article analyzing the riots in London. It was an effort to determine why exactly, the shooting of the drug suspect suddenly roused this aggressive behavior. Apparently, the common denominator is not the poor and down-trodden, it's the people who earn less than others who live in their geographic region. i.e. the rioters are not people who can't afford to buy food, they just can't buy as much as their neighbors. So they are lashing out in anger. Hmmmmm.
I am not sure what to make of that. In the time I have been home with my kids, we often lived paycheck to paycheck. There were many sleepless nights. And we sacrificed much. Could I burn a building in anger? Could I smash windows and loot stores because I was pissed off that my neighbor drove a nicer car or was able to go on vacations? Ahhhhh, I don't think so.
Tonight we are watching The King's Speech with the kids. I loved that movie when I saw it with Brian so I am psyched they are seeing it as well. It's a great movie about picking yourself up when you are dealt a lousy pair of cards. Of facing fear and, in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, "doing it anyway." Sure, he was a member of the royal family so he didn't know poverty but what he faced was worse -- public scorn and a difficult physical limitation. Sure he felt inferior as I presume the rioters in London feel as well. Sure he felt fear. But he rose to the occasion and did what he had to do to make himself a person who could lead his country. Not someone who, in desperation or anger, lashed out and hurt his country. Very interesting...
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