Be at peace, you dick...

Everyone that has ever lived has known someone who has died. That's how things go, you live, you die, people come in and go out of your life. I just found out a friend of mine passed away. We weren't close but we shared time, we hung out, killed more than a few drinks, threw more money at strippers than we should have, had good laughs, and had a few embarrassing moments. Right or wrong he was my friend. He has been missed and will be missed... the dick.

If you've read this far you might wonder why I called my friend Robb a dick. It's simple. He didn't need to die and it's his own fault. When you know that alcohol is killing you, destroying your liver, you have a choice to make. Do you keep doing what you're doing or do you make a change in your life? At one point he chose to live. He cut his drinking down to light beer, moved to a different state, he chose to live!

Something changed. I don't know what it was. But he made a choice to go back to his old ways. Drink every night, til the bars closed. What can you say or do to a person who has chosen a path of self destruction? Nothing. Their choice has been made.

I'm no angel. I've done stupid things, made bad decisions, paid in some way for those mistakes. But I've tried to learn from them. I'm still here to keep learning from my mistakes. My friend Robb was a year or two younger than I am. I'm pissed that he chose this path. Guilty that I didn't see him before he passed away. Angry that no one could find a way to help him.

You were an intelligent man, could have and did pave your own way in this world. Your friends, the people in and around your life loved and cared about you. I hope that you now know peace and that the demons in this life don't follow you to the next.

Be at peace. You dick. My friend.
Robb D - 08/29/14

Ferguson...

What can I say that hasn't already been said about the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri? What I have to say is just another voice floating on the web that no one will hear.

I've been listening and paying attention to this story. It has affected me. Part of me wants to grab all the munitions available to me and hand out righteous justice to the police and to anyone who believes that young black unarmed TEENAGER deserved to be killed. The rest of me knows that won't help the situation or fix the overall problem. So I listen, and watch, and wait for this situation to play out.

When I was a child, my brother and kin could play in the streets. Most people looked at us as children. Not necessarily black children but just children, playing. The police drove through the neighborhood and would stop to talk to us, give us basketball trading cards of the local team and overall just let us know that they were there for our protection - TO PROTECT US - TO SERVE US. That if we were in harms way to call upon them, the police for help.

It's been many years since those days. And in the years, decades to follow, the police have changed. Their mission is no longer to protect the people or serve the people, but to protect the status quo of those in charge. People of color are considered suspect at all times. The police are no longer familiar with the communities that they are supposed to serve. They no longer take the time to say hello. Their presence elicits fear, not safety. If I'm walking to or from work and police are in the area, I get the slow drive by and the accusatory stare as if I "fit the description". No one should be treated this way, black, white, red, yellow, brown,  NO ONE! The police should not be treating the citizens of this country as if they were guilty of some crime upon their arrival.

My head, my heart, my soul, are heavy these days. The local justice systems have aimed their sights at the african-american communities and are taking us out one by one with no repercussions to themselves, yet leaving holes in communities and families, sowing another layer of distrust between police and the people the are supposed to serve and protect. To the police everywhere, open your eyes. Look at what your actions are doing the community. If the people don't trust you or don't feel safe around you, you must adapt and change. There will come a time, a situation, when the people will make a choice. If the police are not with the people they will become the targets of the people. This is not a threat. This is a reality. We, the people are afraid and tired of being treated like enemy combatants or an insurgent force. But considering the amount of gun sales in this country,  the police would be wise to make the people their friend and ally again be for a real fire fight happens.

To the family and community of Mike Brown, may you find justice and peace soon.
To anyone who happens upon this blog, I hope you are safe. I hope you have love. I wish you peace in the midst of these troubling times.