Rodney King, who was a victim of police brutality in the Los Angeles rioting in March of 1991, addressed the press after charges were dropped for “felony evading.” His famous words “Can we, can we get along?” remind us how hate and violence can victimize any person at any time without warning.

To this day, not one person or group is able to answer Rodney King’s question. Apparently, the hate and the violence that follows are far above our intellectual capacity to prevent it. We fight and bicker with each other over ideological differences. We avoid debate or serious attempts to understand our differences. Our anxieties grow as we watch the Middle East blow up.

The violence is so inhumane we literally shake our heads in disbelief. We ask ourselves how could human beings behave like rabid animals? Yet, with one click of our remote we turn on our favorite movie app and watch explicit sex acts and scenes of human carnage. When we’re bored with that, we watch our favorite cable news channel report on the very same inhumane acts. Maybe that has something to do with why we can’t get along?

George Pikoulas,

Butler