Sunday, July 14, 2013

Two and Two Together

Last night, Wonder Woman and I sat on the porch, enjoying the evening cool. I was watching "Soylent Green" on the lappie; Wondie watched desultorily over my shoulder and browsed on her tablet. No television, no contact with the outside world. A lovely evening overall.

Shortly before ten or so, a nearby neighbor set off some fireworks. Not a grand cannonade, just a few whizz-pops. This has been going on periodically since the Fourth, so I thought it was just somebody finishing off this year's stash on a Saturday night, maybe after a few fizzy beverages. Certainly nothing to get worked up over.

As soon as I'd discovered along with Charlton Heston that Soylent Green is made of  (spoiler alert!) Edward G. Robinson, I remarked that I was getting gappy and was headed for bed. We noticed with a giggle that our Saturday evening was coming to an end at the truly Satanic hour of 10:15 PM; our dissipation, we concluded, is near complete.

It wasn't until this morning that, fresh coffee in hand, I read that the George Zimmerman jury had handed down their astonishing verdict the previous evening. Profoundly depressed as I read though the article, I reflected that in many ways we are still living with hatreds and bigotries that have gnawed at me and, well, everybody else, since well before I was born.

It wasn't until I saw the date-time stamp on the article -- 10:06 PM -- that I twigged to the events of the evening before.

Those fireworks had gone off within a minute or two of the verdict's announcement.

I truly don't know whose house the rockets were fired from. The tree-cover is far too thick this time of year to see any distance from our porch. But perhaps more importantly, I don't want to know. I wave cheerfully at any and all pedestrians and passing cars on our tiny dirt road, happy in the self-imposed delusion that we're all Very Nice People. Certainly not the kind of people who'd have cheered the Emmett Till verdict.

I thought we were better than this.

7 comments:

Kevin WOlf said...

Your little tale did not go in the direction I anticipated.

I'm still processing the verdict while I hide Facebook posts from family, friends, and friends of friends (so far, all white males) explaining to me that justice was done and/or the system "worked."

Yeah. Right.

Ronin Geographer said...

Those everyday civilities are becoming more and more of a coverup for things we would rather not know. Not sure what the alternative is, but like the tree cover, it it getting thinner.

Will Divide said...

You will know for certain as soon as someone in that home is shot by accident.

roxtar said...

The veneer of decency is might thin. Thin enough to be wiped away with a shred of tissue...

pelangsing wsc biolo said...

on together

krim penghilang flek ampuh said...

kampungan

Siva Ram said...

This is the most impressive article, thanks for sharing this information with us. Awesome work, I appreciate your work.
property for sale in chennai Great story….Keep on sharing… Thanks