Slowing
Things Down
Something has come up which I need to
report and invite discussion . Yesterday,
a young black man was shot to death while sitting in his car. His killer
was a white police officer. But
the striking thing to me was the rhythmic
speed of the event. On the one hand the officer seemed to be in fast forward while we could see that
the young black man was shot was nearly dead already. But the girlfriend
sitting to the right of the victim was talking to the officer in slow measured
tones. It was as though she knew that the officer was not in control and
was trying to bring him into focus and slow him down. But the
officer continued to point his weapon at the nearly dead victim though the
officer was visibly shaking. It was as if the officer was speeded up in
his mind and was unable to slow himself down. But the girl in the passenger
side of the car was trying very carefully, and, I think thoughtfully, to slow
the officer down. I suspect that the victim who was searching for his
registration was speeded up as well but I did not see that firsthand. The
video will be shown over and over on television. So you might look at it, if
you have the stomach for that sort of thing, and tell me what you conclusion
you reach. It appears that there is a problem in the rhythm and speed of the
event. I have talked to a few people who were puzzled to the extent that they
wondered if there was something staged but it also seemed
surreal.
Baseball
has a reputation for many people as being slow and dull; but in most cases both
the pitcher and the batter are trying to slow themselves down so as to be able
to focus cleanly on what they are doing. If they allow themselves too
much of the intensity of the moment they will not be able to focus and slow
down. You may notice the pitcher adjusting his cap repeatedly as well is
fiddling with this necklace and adjusting his sleeves in his jersey and
scraping his foot on the mound until occasional baseball watcher is pretty well
bored by the process. But at this point the pitcher has slowed down enough to
pitch effectively. Then it is the batters routine to adjust and readjust
his batting gloves with each swing and stare blindly at the bat for a moment
before finally looking at the pitcher. He may ask for time and step out
of the batter's box only to step right back in. Who knows what this is
all about except people know baseball? They know that the batter is also
trying to slow himself down.
Now,
with help, we may come up with a scenario for officers in prisons or in the
street to find ways that they can slow themselves down as well as slowing down
the person they are engaging in an encounter and possible arrest. I can
think of no situation in which a speeding up of this process will improve the
thinking and right action of either the officer or the person facing arrest.
And I also wonder about myself. I am
finding that I am spending a lot of attention to slowing myself down. In
the last few months I no longer listen to the sound on television but only to
the picture. The sound seems to be happening too fast; people are talking
too fast and the scenes are often changing too fast. I find myself in
prayer trying to solve the problem through repetition of prayer. I favor
slow music most of the time. For over a year I return over and over to a Philip
Glass composition, The Visitors, because it always helps me to slow down.
In looking through the glass darkly (which
are vague memories as alcohol memories seem to be) I remember in my drinking
days that my notion was that the troubled state of mind was between drinking episodes
but things seemed relaxed while the alcohol was still in me. So I drank
to slow things down only to find them speeding up again. So the expedient but
irrational answer was to drink fairly continuously.
I
am looking for resources to develop scenarios that might help correctional
officers and other law enforcement people find methods for slowing themselves
down. That could prevent a disaster. That might also tell them
something about whether their alcohol consumption or other drug use might be
contributing to their dilemma about how to conduct themselves in an emergency
situation.
But
we need some structure and trying to find a way to do this. This morning
at Lisa's Café everyone was talking at the same time and I did not come away with
very much but I did feel tremendous affection for all of the folks at Lisa’s
Cafe. It was like puppies in a pile. At first the Double Circle Group
will not be nearly as much fun as puppies in a pile; but it is a learning
process. The two circles balance each other and the two people who are
supporting each other find they can complement each other's ego and awareness.
We can see some of the field of view of our partner in the other circle
can see the how we might act in their situation. Just after I began writing this, I heard that
Sadie Darnell the Sheriff of Alachua County had decided to place deputies on
patrol in pairs.
