Between the seemingly never ending mass shootings and the upcoming Derek Chauvin trial verdict, I'm feeling unsettled these days. America has long shown itself to have a history of violence, but this acceptance of it is next level. Mass shootings daily and not a peep from a lot of people on social media. As the mother of young son, I desperately want for us evolve, but it seems that our history is becoming our present.
In 2013 I did a 4 day Tony Robbins seminar. One of the things he said about change has stuck with me since that time. He says that in order to have lasting change you must take immediate and massive action. Tiny steps forward will not get you the change that you are looking for. The steps must be massive, swift and immediate, lasting change occurs only when you:
- Raise your standards
- Change your limiting beliefs
- Change your strategy
As I watch what is happening around us in this country it feels as though we are (and have been) at a crossroads. Are we going to raise our standards and change our beliefs? Try a new strategy? Take immediate and swift action? Or are we going to present yet another bill that doesn't ban assault weapons and require mandatory background checks and waiting periods? Are we going to punish police officers for mistaking their guns for tasers? For kneeling on a man neck for 9 minutes? For somehow being able to take anyone who is not a black male into custody alive? Or are we going to create more excuses, more reasons to stay the same and live up to our culture of violence?
I don’t know about you, but this is not the future I want for my child. One where he wakes up daily and hears about another shooting - by police or civilians. One where he must accept that no matter what we know to be true, we live in a place where some people won’t value his existence as much as their own. We have a lot of work to do, as individuals, as communities as a country, but with each passing day and everyone’s return to “normal life” I have to wonder, does America really want to change?
