The System

We have a lot of problems in our country, the United States of America. A lot of problems. There are many nations throughout the world that have some wonderful ideas that we would do well to implement here. I could give you my opinions on gay marriage and health care and our prison system and guns so on, but is that what you really come here for? If my father was still alive today, he would likely chuckle and tell me I'm a bleeding heart liberal. One of the things I loved about my father, is that he talked to me and conversed with me the same way he did my older brother. (My younger brother was only 13 when our dad died, so he didn't have adult conversations with him. Not that I was really an adult, but I think you know what I mean.) I have had extended family members tell me that my father hated women and had a low opinion of them and a general disrespect for them. I won't object to that, but I will say that as a girl child who was almost 18 when he died, I never saw that or felt it.

When I was in high school, I would work late at Burger King. In summer, we were open till midnight on week nights and 1 am on weekends, and I often worked the closing shift. I thought that my dad must like to stay up late, but now that I think about it, perhaps it wasn't so much that he was a night owl as it was he wanted to make sure I got in safely.

We would sit and have these discussions about politics and current events and life in general. And I am so thankful for them, for many reasons, probably the biggest being that although we didn't know it, my father would die at the young age of 54 and I would not be having any more conversations with him. I thought of them as "intellectual conversations," and it made me feel good that my dad thought I had a good mind. Sometimes he would poke a few holes in my arguments, and that's as it should be. It's no fun to talk with someone on a serious subject and not be challenged. But he never patronized me. He made me feel as I could hold my own on many topics, and it no doubt contributed to the confidence that I have always felt in the presence of men. I can remember over the years men old enough to be my father or grandfather, in business situations, seeming a little surprised and maybe amused at this young girl named Susan and how she conducted herself.

So while we have a lot of problems that need fixing in this country, one of the greatest things in my opinion is that each person accused of a crime is entitled to a vigorous defense, and a trial with a jury of his peers. That the jury is made up of people like you and me, is quite intriguing. It's not just a judge who decides someone's fate. It is not a group of professional, paid jurors. But just someone like me. Or you.

George Zimmerman went through the system. Although each is entitled to a speedy trial, most defendants choose to wait and allow a solid defense to be mounted. That takes time. So when it was all said and done, six female jurors concluded that he is not guilty.

The system works, the way it is supposed to, even when it surprises us. It was my guess that Zimmerman was overcharged with second degree murder, and when I heard that the jury would be permitted to consider manslaughter, I felt it likely he would be convicted of that. I didn't follow the case closely, but I kept up with it a bit. Mostly because it involved two young men. Martin was 17 at the time of his death, and Zimmerman 28. As the mother of two sons, as a woman who reflects on the values as a society seem to teach boys, as I think about guns and violence and such, it struck a chord with me. In this blog, my most popular post (the one that has been viewed the most) is one I wrote shortly after Martin was shot. It is called "I am Sabrina Fulton."

It is beyond tragic that so many of our young men kill our young men, for whatever the reason and whatever the circumstances. I wish them all peace. I wish peace for the families of Martin and Zimmerman, and I think of both Mrs. Fulton and Mrs. Zimmerman as my sisters. I wish George Zimmerman peace, for that night has forever changed his life. I would not want to live with the fact that I had pulled the trigger of a gun and took another person's life, regardless of the circumstances or reason.

Sometimes it seems that we will never have peace within our nation, that there will never be a day when some young man won't be picking up a gun and killing another young man. Not that women don't commit violence, for they do, but the young men just really resonate with me. I have to ask myself, however, what am I doing to make our country a better place?

The system works. I need to be working somehow to make things better.