III: Arbery

We grieve together for Ahmad Arbery. It shouldn’t have been him. It shouldn’t have been anyone.

Justice was, eventually, served. Eventually. And we’re angry. Many of us are confused. Most are deeply upset. Disappointed in ourselves.

How many deaths will be enough? How many more names on the wall do we need to engrave in our hearts before we learn to change for the better? Why did we need to rely on a media storm to ensure that the guilty won’t walk free?

And to those that so blindly and wildly deal out hate crimes? There’s a certain irony to those who call themselves human, yet lack basic humanity.

Did they ever stop to ask themselves, “why?”

If there’s anything we can do, we can make a hell of a lot of excuses. Among them:

“It’s how I was raised.”
“Why change what works?”
“It’s the way I am.”
“It’s how things are meant to be.”

Amphibians evolved to take their first steps onto terrestrial soil. It’s not as if they started off there. Tadpoles spend their time maturing in water, before they develop enough to move inland as mature frogs.

Tadpoles were raised in water.
Frogs, live on land and in water.

The bubble broke. They adapted to survive.

Change happened in the past. Change can happen now. With our so-called great intellect, unparalleled among the so-called great apes, what hope for survival is there for a species that cannot change?

To those who neglect to change: take your excuses and go.