Being kind during adverse times

As a nation and as a community we have not faced this much uncertainty since immediately after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It can be unsettling to look two, three or four months into the future and not have a clear idea of where the country will be by then.

A deadly pandemic is still with us, though not nearly as much in the headlines. We are seeing unrest in our cities not seen since 1968, after Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day killed George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man. We are seeing double-digit unemployment and steadily hoping we can return much quicker than past downturns.

Many things remain completely out of our control. We are to be forgiven for feeling like we are on a roller coaster we cannot get off — an impossible coaster with too many sharp plunges and not enough rises.

But there is one thing we can control: How we treat each other.

We are speaking of right here in this community. We can choose to help our neighbor. We can choose to help someone who moments before had been a stranger to us.

We can choose to have a conversation with someone from a different background. Most importantly, we can listen.

No catastrophe can take from us this personal, individual choice to help one other individual at a time — and then another individual, and then another one.

THE POWER OF INDIVIDUALS

We have already seen this spirit of helping out. No one who has lived in this community for any amount of time is surprised. Remember that Fayetteville and Fort Bragg by definition have a higher-than-normal percentage of people who have made serving others their life’s work — namely serving their country.

One day after peaceful protests on behalf of Floyd turned into some of the worst riots the city has seen, more than 100 people were out in downtown the next day helping business owners board up their damaged properties.

As with any period of adversity, we must take things day-by-day. Since that rough May 30, several other protests have taken place, peacefully and, unlike in some cities elsewhere, have concluded before a city-imposed curfew.

At a Monday protest, two individuals, protester Josh Wiley and Fayetteville Police Officer Benny Zacharias, were responsible for organizing an act of mutual respect that lowered the tension. The men knew each other and were texting back-andforth — in other words, communicating. Both officers and protesters winded up kneeling in solidarity on Murchison Road.

This does not mean the justified anger over Floyd is over. It does not mean we won’t have more protests; we will. We cannot even guarantee that there will not be a return to bad behavior by some opportunists and criminals using the protests as cover. But the point is that the actions of good, well-intentioned individuals can make a difference and outweigh the bad. We must all try to see remember to see people as individuals. Many unarmed black men would be alive today if they had been granted that benefit of the doubt, including Floyd, who was to be memorialized on Saturday in Hoke County.

We can make a choice to see people as individuals — it is entirely within our power. When we see people as individuals, we begin to easily discern our similarities. We can easily see we are all in this together. It makes us want to help, to do our part.

LOOKING AHEAD, NOT BACK

Again, we already see this at work as we join together to fight the coronavirus. Whether it’s NFL player Oli Udoh delivering 500 lunches to staff at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center; or the big response when the Second Harvest Food Bank held a food drive; or when Fayetteville Technical Community College delivered thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment to the hospital and to the N.C. State Veterans Home; or Cumberland County Schools continuing to offer meals to any child who wants one.

“We can’t do anything about yesterday,” Mark Whitsett said during his prayer for unity at a drivein service last Sunday at Pleasant Grove Church of Christ. “We can’t change anything about yesterday. But we can change going forward.”

That’s right.

We can stand together or fall apart.

We are confident that the vast majority of folks here will chose the former option.

— The Fayetteville Observer, June 6