Us and Them

MSNBC is filled with coverage today surrounding what police said is a child's skull found near the Orlando home of a missing child.

As the local sheriff was grilled by reporters, again and again, he said that he was unable to discuss evidence (or frankly any other real details of the situation).

I understand that as a police officer, often times, keeping information private is vital to solving a case and that these sort of restrictions are in place for very good reasons. But this sort of thing reflects a larger cultural aspect that may be all too prevalent in our society; the concept of us vs. them.

The government (including the police) is supposed to lead the people. In an ideal society, we would have no problem trusting our leaders with our own well being and have no doubt that they have only the best intentions in mind. But unfortunately, this is not the case. As demonstrated in today's discovery, the police see themselves as separate from the community at large, an outside force that is there to keep the peace and find the truth.

It's these kinds of perceptions that are detrimental to a functioning society.

At Miami, this concept came up a little over a year ago when many permanent residents and the city council pushed to ban outdoor drinking games. Is it outrageous that local parents might not want their children to be constantly exposed to drunk students? Absolutely not. But in my mind, creating city ordinances to solve the problem only work to exacerbate the situation.

While the immediate problem was perhaps the drinking games, the bigger picture showed a rift between permanent residents of Oxford and students. If instead of forcing laws on students, or showing no regard for permanent residents, an effort was made to unite these two groups, I think we would see a much more cohesive and productive environment.

We don't need laws to fix our problems, we need mutual respect.

On a national level, people see the federal and state governments as outside forces imposing their will on the everyman. Politicians, as evidenced by shady pardons and illegitimate wealth, aren't perceived to understand what the average American has to deal with on a daily basis. For this country to survive, this kind of imagined separation needs to end.

Just some food for thought.