Parker: Hard to wrap mind around violence and reaction to it >>
A personal interest connects with the mental action of wrapping one’s mind around an incident, behaviors, even life.
As definition, this event means “to comprehend something that one considers challenging, confusing, or a foreign concept.”
So, a desire for mental comprehension frequently delivers an understanding that no rhyme or reason, at least nothing that we can place our finger on, explains human behavior.
Occasionally, my mind understands but heart, soul and spirit abandons, or better yet, fails to comprehend what makes humans tick.
Both head and heart have malfunctioned regarding another violent act in the City of Trenton as young men on motor bikes and all-terrain vehicles shot up a back-to-school party on Union St., not far from the New Salem Baptist Church.
A total of four people were struck by gunfire and a 7-year-old child suffered injuries after being struck by one of the dirt bikes driven by an alleged participant.
A text message, saturated with rumors and misrepresentations preceded reality although initial reports seemed wild enough for follow up phone calls.
Weird, strange and unconscionable usually leads toward a smidgen of non-fiction.
Confirmation of the incident left me in that state of attempting to wrap mind around a condition which delivered despair.
Young men on all-terrain vehicles and motorbikes wielding weapons in an all-out war for violent resolutions, despicable attempts for deadly reconciliations, showing no concerns for anyone, exists as an overload for mind wrapping. Not certain anyone can figure this out.
A secondary failed wrap involved the lack of media coverage and civic concern. News broadcasts connected this incident to the Art All Night shooting in June but the back-to-school incident received significantly less air time.
With no significant Caucasian involvement, a back-to-school party that morphed into a duck for your life incident played out as normal behavior, an alleged subplot of the Afro-American landscape.
New Salem Baptist Church Ernest “Chip” Wormley attempted mental wrap. Failed.
“It’s hard to understand, especially if you’ve been in Trenton for as long as I have. Lived in Trenton for much of my 62 years, and never seen anything like this violence here or elsewhere in the city,” Wormley said.
“It’s very disturbing to think that young men thought about this action before it came to fruition, that they have nothing else to do. There’s some spiritual issues here.”
Plus, social problems exist as interest and upset about violence attracts concern when events impact certain people.
Trenton needs an alteration in mindset, a belief that violence in poverty-stricken minority neighborhoods impacts the soul of middle class and affluent communities.
People talk about and support a “One Trenton” mentality but there’s a major difference between thinking good thoughts and the production of those intentions.
Bottom line? Trenton residents can ill afford acceptance of violence.
Hard to wrap my mind around actions being perpetrated by troubled young men and reactions by others.