Much Ado About Very Little

WE HAVE REACHED THE BOTTOM of the barrel, surely. Haven't we? Surely we can go no lower. We are now divided over the following question: do all lives matter, or do black lives matter, as an exclusive category? The blacks, versus the many shades of grays. The barrel's bottom is where we argue the matter, as if it were an issue. Instead of merely agreeing that both propositions have merit, we squabble, we interrupt speeches, we storm stages, and we bicker, and we write editorials, endlessly. Can we do no better? Can we at least try to understand both points of view? White lives, or rather, wealthy white lives, have always mattered, and that fact need not be emphasized now, goes the black argument. And since black lives have never before mattered, we must place special emphasis upon the fact that now, at long last, they matter, or should. All lives matter, and we must all be included in what matters, go the grey proponents. Always something to argue about! The fools would be humorous were they not in such deadly earnest.