Thursday, June 01, 2017

Just For One Day

We could be heroes just for one day.
Here's the thing about heroes, not to diminish the sentiments of David Bowie: They depend a lot on perspective. It can depend where you are standing, or sitting. It can depend on the time you look that person up on Wikipedia. Better, perhaps, that we remember Tiger Woods for the golf phenomenon that he once was rather than the mug shot he has become today. Not to mess with the sentiments of Little Feat, but time doesn't always love a hero. 
My hope is that Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, Rick Best, and Micah Fletcher and their actions will stand this test of time and perspective. These three gentlemen were the men who chose to stand up to a nutjob who was yelling hateful and obscene things at a pair of young women. A college graduate, an army veteran, and a poet chose to try and stop a man from screaming venom, and they paid for it with their lives. Not content to simply hurl invective at these upstanders, Mister Nutjob attacked them with a knife. Namkai Meche and Best died at the scene. Fletcher survived and was taken to a hospital and survived, thanks in part to critical aid given to him by others who were standing nearby. Preserving life. Pretty heroic. 
Meanwhile, Mister Nutjob ran away. Jeremy Joseph Christian was then chased a few blocks away, where he was arrested on charges of aggravated murder. Being a nutjob, at least in Donald Trump's America, may not be a crime anymore. It should be noted at this point, that Mister Christian's idea of a hero is Timothy McVeigh. You remember Timothy. He of the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. Killer of men, women and children. Back to that whole perspective thing. Nutjobs are often inspired by nutjobs. 
But maybe these three men will inspire more rationally minded folks to rise up when less rationally minded folks wander into the realm of the real. Perhaps Namkai Meche, Best and Fletcher will lead a wave of common sense and humanity. 
And maybe now is the wrong time to bring up the fact that there are already nutjobs lining up to praise this idjit. Sorry.

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