Heartbroken for humanity

My heart breaks. My heart breaks for the souls and the families of those who have been murdered by overzealous, rogue police officers across our nation. My heart breaks for those whose businesses, homes and lives are now being devastated by the rioting, looting and — yes — killing going on across our nation, supposedly in the name of protests against police brutality. My heart breaks for the children being dragged by their parents into the midst of these protests; who are being forced to witness lawlessness, not being able to differentiate between the peaceful and the riotous; for those children in harm’s way, being pepper sprayed on the side of the street or shot at with less-than-lethal gunfire on the porches of their homes; for children who have no part in any of this but are now forced to witness it all first hand. We are better than this. Our nation is better than this. I have heard it said over and over again that this is, indeed, exactly who we are; that we as a nation were born with racism in our blood; that it is part of our genetic make-up. Yet, still I say, we are better than this. Nothing was right about what happened to Mr. Floyd or any of the people killed unjustly by police officers over the years. And peaceful protests might bring attention to the injustices and might possibly bring about much needed change in our country. I pray they will. Bad cops are bad cops — and I believe they make up a very small minority of the police force — and bad cops should be punished. But this rioting and burning and destruction of property and entire cities is just senseless. When people start acting out in this manner, it just seems to give bad cops an excuse to be bad cops. I repeat — we are better than this. And still, my heart breaks for humanity.