​Depressing news, calls to heal, no one listens

By Chris Hennen

There have been too many tragedies in the United States lately. We’ve become numb to the death and destruction that fill our headlines. It’s almost enough to make you afraid to wake up in the morning and read the news.

Every time it happens, including most recently with the killing of police officers ambushed in Baton Rouge, there are many calls for people to come together, to listen more and to love each other more. It never happens. And I am starting to be afraid it never will.

I come to this conclusion after listening to so many of the debates that follow these tragedies. What can happen in our country that will be enough to bring us together?

There are some issues intertwined here, guns, race relations, the presidential race. Listen to debates on these issues and tell me if there is any possible consensus that can come of it. We are too polarized as a society.

Everyone wants their own opinions reinforced by whatever sources they are listening to. And nobody is listening to anyone else. They are talking past each other.

It shouldn’t be too much to ask that innocent police officers shouldn’t be killed, having had nothing to do with any of the recent incidents. And that citizens of any color who are pulled over or are stopped by police, not be killed for doing nothing.

Those two things shouldn’t be mutually exclusive, but for some of us they are. You can’t get a discussion about the former without saying all cops are bad; or the latter without saying all protesters are bad.

The same people who don’t want us to paint people (or most importantly, their side of the issue) with broad brushes, do it with cops, protesters, Democrats, Republicans, gun owners, people who favor gun control and on and on.

I’ve heard people blame the President for the deaths in Baton Rouge because he dared to mention the incidents in St. Paul and Baton Rouge during the Dallas officers’ memorial. That is the state of things in America, that even when the President issues a call for people to temper their words and open their hearts, he is blamed for inciting violence.

So how does it change? I don’t know. Obviously, if Trump or Clinton is elected, it’s not going to get any better -- not that in recent times any President has ever brought us together as a country, other than for brief moments.

Even if sensible gun control legislation passed, which it won’t be, the gulf between the sides on that issue is about as large as Donald Trump’s ego. What can possibly happen to make race relations better in America? Anything?

We have short attention spans. We forget what happened last week. We are onto the next thing before we’ve had time to digest anything.

If there is a magic solution, I don’t have it. Every side is equally guilty. Everyone does it.

If it sounds depressing, it’s because it is. It is hard not to be sad reading the news these days, and not to be depressed or fatigued.

Here are some things, I think, that are a start.

#1 Make mental health a priority. Make access to mental health care easier. Knock down stigmas about getting help. Too many times, people involved were getting help or in the process of getting help, but there were barriers.

#2 Take care of our veterans. We send people to war, put them in places of death and destruction, and when they come back, some are not getting healed the way they should. We need to make helping veterans affected by PTSD more of a priority. How many of these incidents are caused by veterans who may have been sent back into society before they were ready? I am not saying all veterans are capable of this. But what I am saying is if we can afford to send these people to war, we can afford to make sure they are okay when they come back. They deserve better than they are getting right now.

#3 Finally, I heard about Wichita police meeting with Black Lives Matters protesters to address their concerns. After they heard each other, a BBQ was held where uniformed officers were playing basketball with children instead of a planned protest. We need more of that. Take the time to actually listen to what people say, and then try to get to know them in a way outside of a political debate, courtroom, vehicle, or on the street. It’s up to both sides to reach out to make that happen, not one or the other.

I hope things get better before they get worse. But every time I’ve thought that they might, they haven’t. We’ve been through a lot this year and it’s just halfway over. The only way it can change is if we start to take real steps to change ourselves.