Like the rest of the world, I feel angry. So much pent up rage.

Blinding and white hot rage that brings tears to my eyes.

I watched the murder of George Floyd several times and each time, I look for any sign, any sign at all, for any compassion, for any humanity at all from the police officers.

How did we get here? How can we treat each other with such contempt?

I read somewhere that we are now dealing with two viruses–COVID and systemic racism. One major difference is that one needs more than a vaccine…

It has been weeks since the world erupted, with continuing protests all over the world. Yet, I wonder how did we get here and how do we make amends?

Peter and I had a somber dinner conversation about how Olivia’s generation is faced with so many challenges like climate change, systemic racism, an older generation that is blind to all the problems their selfishness has caused, where governments are more concerned about the stock market than the lives of their citizens. The list is long…

Every man for himself. This is how we got here. Pure unadulterated selfishness and unquenchable thirst for more…more money, more cars, more houses, just more. We got lost and along the way, we forgot to take care of each other. We forgot that we need to help each other to move forward, to make a better world for everyone.

Yet, perhaps it is not too late…

There was a Black Lives Matter protest yesterday down by the water and Olivia asked if we should go. With COVID, I emphatically said no. How can we help the cause if we get sick? We have been supporting local black businesses but somehow it is not enough. Not quite enough.

This question still plagues me…what do we need to do to make amends?

I don’t know. Do you?

What I do know is that we are at a crossroad. Like Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken”, we need to take the road less travelled by. We need to look inside ourselves and make a commitment that if we want a better world, we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and make a change (like Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”). And the next time, I will no longer look away when I see something wrong happening as most of us do. No more. I will no longer be complacent.

It is time for change. Our generation failed. Yet, as an optimist, I don’t believe it is too late. We still have time. We need to change this world for the better…for Olivia…for all our children’s future. We need to start NOW.

#BlackLivesMatter.

Love always.

Debbie