A long long long time ago, I came across this Chinese curse:

May you live in interesting times

from the introduction of a Terry Pratchett book.  I forget which one.    I think it was one of the novels about the indestructible Sam Vimes.  But, I could be wrong.   It’s been years and I had to be in my early teens.    I should really re-read some Pratchett, bless his soul.

Anyway, at the time, I couldn’t understand how living in interesting times is a curse.
Of course, I’d want my days, years, lifetime to be interesting.   I’d be completely bored otherwise and try to make up something interesting.

Fast forward to today — I think my younger self didn’t fully comprehend just have adventurous daily life can be.

Interesting times….   riots….  looting… covid… need not apply although they’ve dominated everything in the past week.

I do not need them to make my time interesting.

But, it is interesting to watch from the outside looking in.
I have my theories and thoughts.

I know from when I boarded myself up as an adjunct all those years ago and delved head-first into anorexia, my personality changed.  I began having panic attacks.  I would think and say horrible things (but never carried through).  The residue of that is still within me.  I think that’s part of the reason why I take Prozac.

I put myself into a literally impossible situation.
It took impossible measures for me to get out of it.

A lot of people have been placed in the same type of situation, although it’s just been months, not years, by the COVID virus.    People were encouraged to stay at home by the government.   The media was more than happy to use fear tactics.

Americans were called brave by not stepping out of the front door because, if we should have the Covid, we’d be murders by association or be murdered (although it was okay at grocery stores).

My most currently hated line:

We’re all in this together.

—  No, we are not.

We’re not all in this together any more than Bill Gates sleeping under a bridge.  It doesn’t happen.  It’s not real.

Outside of flesh and blood, his look on humanity is a lot different than the other 99%.

There is no possible way we’re in it together, but there’s even more of a division.

I’m thinking of New York, Michigan, and California in particular.
It’s illegal to go outside.   Neighbors can’t talk to other neighbors even if they’re over 6 feet apart.  The people in these good states went from being free-ranged to caged.  It’s not something that went over very well.

The moving of the goalposts…  staying at home to avoid hospitals being overrun is one thing.   Staying at home until a vaccination is created is something else.  The novelty wore off.

It was good to go through all of the back closets and actually clean out the attic, but that soon wore off.    Parents discovered that they didn’t like having their children around all the time and don’t quite understand their homework.   Things advance so quickly…

This sunny pie-in-the-sky novelty wore off and quickly.

But, they remained caged and never fully got to the point where their lack of freedoms was accepted.  Knowingly or not, pent up rage, disappointment, and fear started to persist and there had to be a release.

Unfortunately, it was George Floyd.

Yes, kneeling on his neck was an absolutely insane and stupid thing to do.   It was.  Has anyone looked at police procedures?   Neck kneeling doesn’t seem like something that would be in the handbook.

The police should bear responsibility for that.
If inappropriate police procedure was at the heart of Mr. Floyd’s death, that’s on the lawyers, corners, judge, and jury to figure out.

This assumption that it was a police brutality killing isn’t proven.  But, that’s what we’re running with.

And, you know, the looting, rioting, destruction of people’s work is linked to Mr. Floyd.    I didn’t know him, but if an officer took me down, I certainly wouldn’t want rioting in the streets.

There’s a strong illogical connection here.

If people would stop to think about how Mr. Floyd would like to be remembered, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be in this fashion.

But… as far as I know… those who were closest to him haven’t spoken out so maybe Mr. Floyd would have enjoyed all of the destruction in his name.   Who knows, right?

Personally, I’d like to think he’d be disgusted by it.

But, the bridge has been burnt.    All of this locked-up covid mess has come rushing out.

And people know better.
The rage has some sort of intelligence.    Sure, small businesses are targeted, but so are expensive stores.  Kate Spade, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Channel, Nordstrom, Dolce & Gabbana.  You know, big names, as well as Target, Walgreens, and the like.

These people know — they just know — stealing is wrong.
They know that the stores they destroy are filled with employees who just started back to work and got off unemployment.  If it was a small business, a life’s dream went down in flames… sometimes literally.

And these people don’t care.

Oh, and they’re spreading covid as they go.    Masks or not, there’s a really good chance that it’s being spread.

All of that ‘we’re in this together,’ economic stimulus bonus, and goodwill is nothing.  Everything from the past five months is gone.

It’s rubbish.

And people know this.

They’re running on emotions.   The areas that were most suppressed tend to have the most violent uprisings.

The looters are adults.
They know better and should be punished for it.

And I still think it would be a good idea if Mr. Floyd’s friend would speak out on how he would have felt about this.   Maybe he’d be ashamed.   Maybe he’d encourage it.   Either way, could have an impact on what people are claiming to do for and because of him.

Even if Mr. Floyd did approve, is it really okay for people to harm others – black, white, Latino, Hispanic, Asian… just when they’re starting to get their lives back to a semi-balanced of normal?

Of course it is.
They’re running on emotions, not dreams.
They just don’t care.

By the by, is there a video of the officer’s faces when they found out he died?
I would really like to have seen the honest on the spot reaction.  That’d go a long way to telling us if it was intentional.

Anyways, current theory — one among many.

May you – not – live in interesting times.