What part of "thou shalt not kill" did you not understand?

  I wish I had the guts to ignore this week's events and blog something entirely irrelevant.  Like which sport I think has nowhere to go but fourth-down.  Or my struggles with how to trust an unpredictable God - Lewis's "not a tame lion".  Or whether I have anything unique to say about any subject.

  I was going to do a #FridayFlyover. March 3, 1991.  The corner of Foothill Boulevard and Osborne Street, Los Angeles, CA.  The original case of white cop, black suspect, police brutality, and a camera.  Rodney King.  But after Dallas, ...

  Not all deaths are created equal.  Some deaths are a national tragedy, mourned by many.  Others are a personal affair, a mostly empty funeral parlor with just the surviving family.  And some get the attention of the media.
  And, as I've noted before (see blog), the tail wags the dog.  Chance, circumstance, proximity to recording, and anticipated media value decide which deaths we hear about.  And, this week, seven deaths have wrenched our attention away from Clinton and Trump...
 
  I told my brother that I think that as a white man in the 2010s, I'm 10x as aware of a racism that is only half as virulent and hazardous as it was 50 or 100 years ago.
  But as we try to defeat the plague, we go from considering it a part of life, to an enemy to be fought and eradicated.  As we win the war, each battle seems more dear, more important to win.  The same theory works for smallpox and racism.

  Again, I don't know if it's because it is the national conversation...but...this might be the week that we lose hope in American civilization.

  Again, although I consider this potentially a important day in American history (call back in 10 years, because sometimes we can't tell whether a day will become historic or not - see June 28, 1914)...I don't see it as a sign of the end times.  This isn't the first time a nation has lost trust in its pillars.  And I still think the 20th century was much more full of what would be considered signs of the end times, using popular definition.

  And...unless you want to tell me how God has smitten our nation, unless you want to point to a true calamity in our nation in the last 150 years...I don't see how you can claim 2 Chronicles 7:14 if you can't find the qualifying event in 2 Chronicles 7:13.

  We are held hostage by 70 people per million.  By the violence and murders of a miniscule but deadly cancer.  16,000 murders in our country.  Another 1,000 killed by cops (whether justified - see Orlando shooter, or less-than-justified to what-in-the-hell-were-you-thinking).  Guns guns guns.
  Is there a solution that reduces the reaper's toll?  (One that actually reduces violence?)  And if you believe the answer is revival, how can we create a revival if we haven't been able to do it in the last ??? years.  And what would a revival look like?  And what cultural, political, and other changes would accompany revival?

  As usual, all I have are questions.  I don't have answers.  I have statistics, but they're poor consolation.
  I posted a tweet on June 11.  "The math geeks tell us that the crime rate has dropped by 40-50% nationwide in last 20-25 years...but yeah, @GeneWillis, we must get better."  This was after a singer was murdered in Orlando, one day before the Pulse shootings.
  Like I said before, I'm getting sick of it.