There are more and more things I don’t remember well as I grow older. The internet can be a great tool to help fill in the gaps but only when used with care as there is so much portrayed as true that even my old brain knows is false. I certainly remember the decade of the 1960s of political assassinations: notably John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X as well as Medgar Evers, James Chaney, Michael Goodman, Andrew Schwerner and Fred Hampton, and many, many more less well known who were murdered. That world was dark and seemed hopeless.
These days, by comparison, our country is literally an army—American civilians have more than three times the number of guns than are in possession of all the militaries of the world combined. So, as horrifying as the attempted assassination of former President Trump is, even more terrifying is the possibility of what might might follow if he continues to cajole and posture as we have seen in the past. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” he said casually at a rally in Iowa (1/23/16).
The level of gun violence faced by Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and immigrants, in particular, is also horrifying and, again, nearly all of it can be traced to the public rants made by this same man who had his ear shot yesterday. To deny the shameful and vitriolic words he has so often used is simply not facing reality.
I don’t have a sense as to what will come of all this next week at the Republican Convention but I’m doubtful it will be healthy for American democracy. I ask those who support this man and the Republican Party to think long and hard about who he really is. For those who do not support him, we need to speak honestly and without violence and do all we can to turn out the vote.
The “pretty photos” I offer today are to confirm the contrast between how life actually is—stunningly beautiful—and how we’ve come to allow it to be. I’m not advocating a “head in the sand” attitude, rather we must simply never forget the real world is much more than headlines.
Still Learning To See 
Hear hear!