Ever notice how any time there is a disaster, everyone congregates in a big box store parking lot? The center of the next apocalypse will be a Walmart parking lot. There’s a quality about that which I find especially depressing.

This past weekend a black security guard at a bar in Illinois stopped a shooting when a drunken patron returned to the bar with a gun and started firing. When the police arrived, they saw the security guard restraining the drunken shooter and decided to shoot the security guard. The officer’s shots ended up killing the security guard.

Will the police who committed this murder face any repercussions from their action? Nope! There is not even a slight chance of that. As everyone obviously knows, American police officers are immune from prosecution due to their actions. They could shoot a baby in the face in at noon on the steps of the White House and as long as that baby is black, no police officer will ever lose their job, let alone face prosecution.

Black security guard who saved day after drunk customers open fire on bar was then shot dead by police [The Independent]

It is again the time of the year when we start seeing food drive bins roll out to grocery stores, libraries, fire stations, and pretty much every other location with a roof. Of course it’s a nice idea to donate food to those in need, but I am always left wondering, “Why does the U.S. only encourage food donations during the holiday season???”

Well, obviously it is incorrect to say that Americans only donate food during the holiday season. Charitable contributions occur throughout the year. However, the sight of a food donation bin anywhere outside of the holiday season is remarkably rare. There are close to zero organizations which encourage food donations until October/November roll onto the calendar.

I understand that there is some logic to food donations in the Fall. The weather is getting colder and therefore the less fortunate who often have to spend considerable amounts of time in cold weather need an increased number of calories to survive.

However, the point of this rant is that it is wrong to limit charitable food donations to 2-3 months of the year. That idea is similar to limiting the study of black people in history to Black History Month or only learning about the contributions of women to society during Women’s History Month. Why not respect people with dark skin all year round? Why not learn about the historical contributions of women for all 12 months of the year? Why not provide support to the homeless and poor each and every month of the year?

Encouraging charitable food donations in November and charitable financial contributions in December enables people to check their personal “charity box” and forget about any further help. They can say, “Yep, I’ve done some good for the year and I don’t need to think about helping others until next year.” If our society is going to grow stronger, we cannot forget about people who are less fortunate than us for 10 to 11 months every year. We cannot simply buy several pounds of canned food and think that poverty has been alleviated by a meaningful degree. The idea that other people are suffering while we live comfortably should live in our minds like a rock in our shoe. We must remind ourselves every day that other people who live among us do not have the fundamentals necessary to ensure their wellbeing and happiness.

On the internet, it’s commonly stated that millennials are the most emotionally fragile group of Americans that exist. That argument is insubstantial when you consider the current actions of conservatives.