Compassion > Regulation

It will come as no surprise that I am disgusted by the actions and statements of those advocating for gun control who exploited the death of two of our fellow citizens on television.  However, I find some commonalities in that story and the upcoming 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

I believe that the uncontrollable storm of Hurricane Katrina was exacerbated by New Orleans and coastal Louisiana ignoring their social issues for decades.  Common phrases like this is the bayou, what happens in New Orleans stays in New Orleans and redneck way of life masked the drug epidemic, the lack of family institutions and the endangered mentality of community belonging. They ignored their social issues and Hurricane Katrina killed many members of that community.

Fast forward to all of the recent gun shootings.  There were tons of signs - albeit hindsight is 20/20 - and communities ignored the signs or more than likely, were scared of reacting to signs.  If I approach a person with mental issues, I may be accused of being close-minded, racist, sexist or any number of other derogatory terms.  So instead, we do nothing and before we know it, people are killed.

We should open our eyes and set free our hearts to help our fellow citizens.  Let us not rely on government, government programs and selfish politicians to solve and help our communities.  The power is ours, the responsibility is ours.  

Andy Pettitte and Faith (in People)

This weekend, Yankee great Andy Pettitte will have his number retired at Yankee Stadium joining an exclusive group of Yankees that include Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio.  Andy Pettitte's career has been well documented through his successes in New York and Houston including multiple World Series championships.

However, I cannot help but think that Andy Pettitte's success and now retired number is a result of his faith in the American people.  Time and time again, history has shown that people are willing to forgive if they are told the truth.  The human capacity to do so is based on the fact that we look into a mirror and see a non-perfect person and we resonate and connect when our athletes, politicians and stars are open about their non-perfection.

Perhaps if more folks were willing they were wrong and made mistakes, we would not have so much hatred, partisanship and disappointment in public life.  While I admit that I am not opposed to the rigorous and continuous attacks on Hillary Clinton's private email server, if she came out and said Yes, I used a private email server and I should not have.  I should have shown better discretion about confidential information, this would not even be a story.

Trust people, be great, join Monument Park.