Hope, a nice name

As I mentioned in 2020, sometimes we’re the Marty and sometimes we’re the George. Or, in my case, the Lorraine.?

Sometimes we accept the role asked of us. And with acceptance comes end dates.

As I retire from supporting father figures through potentially violent endings, I do so with greater conviction.?

I have conviction for interdependence.?

Both of the other roles call for it strongly anyway, and I happen to agree. Criticism around Back to the Future and Lorraine would prefer her wholly self-sufficient, slapping a label that interprets physical self-defense as self-sufficient. For those of us trying to make an interdependent world better, or trying to survive this one, it is impossible to be wholly self-sufficient. It's also naive. While I appreciate my new-found athleticism, I don’t know if my Lorraine role will have an end date.?

I do know that the Evergreen role has no end date.

I have conviction for interdependence as a component to unity. And while mockingjay games end, bettering our world through unity will not. Neither hope, nor revolution, is naive.

So these two public roles continue, one with assured permanence. Interdependence is the common denominator.

My direct involvement in father figure confidence has ended, because I said so. And yet, indirect interdependence won’t.

It takes a competent justice system, policing system and public infrastructure to ensure father figures don't end up in oak park cemeteries prematurely. And police officers aren't the only father figures out there, fyi. They are mine though.

It is true that police make more split-second decisions. It is true that many others may not understand them, and other professions don’t always face the same accountability when deaths occur (healthcare, for example). And yet, we could also argue that those other professions also seek out system overhaul when individual accountability is shirked (healthcare patient safety, for example). Where is the system-wide overhaul with justice and policing??

Equally, where is the unity around understanding? Many of us don’t know what it’s like to be afraid when pulled over. My little friends and classmates would get excited for squad car show and tell; that’s not the case elsewhere. Many of you don’t know what it’s like to assume the day may or may not mean a parent gets shot on a call. Many don’t know what it is like to experience gang silence – from a street gang, or from a police gang.?

This understanding is not something any one of us can do on our own; it requires interdependence.?

We are interdependent on the rest of the United States to reform justice, and policing.?It is my hope that we get it right.

Community policing is necessary, and not enough. In other words, training and management should be so professionally awesome that a kid would bring it to show and tell.

I’ve set down the guitar music because I’d rather be dancing to other songs.?Dancing with a handsome other is much warmer - and more interdependent - then a pole, by the way.

For everyone: please reform policing and justice, so that every community is as fortunate as the one that was mocked. Do so, together. If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.

For all the older, former Georges on the tennis courts: please consider any other permanent roles you fit into. Including encouraging confidence where required.

And please make space for my future husband. I hope to gift him the right interdependent fit.?

And if there’s one strength that enchants, it’s hope.