Dying is easy, living is harder”
—George Washington in Hamilton
FULL DISCLOSURE: We have zero proof that the real President George Washington actually said those words, but his character in the Broadway show Hamilton definitely did. Either way, the statement is provocative.
The world has changed since 1776. Maybe it’s the quickness of a handgun vs. the awkward effort it took to get a muzzle loader ready to fire. Back in Washington’s day, men settled their problems with a duel. Duels were about honor and a small bullet at approximately 100 feet. If anyone died, says one expert, it was usually by accident.
Instead of a split-second decision, it took a day or two to organize a duel, so people had time to cool off. Back then, serious killing seemed to require a bigger idea, like fighting for independence, or at least bagging a turkey to feed the family.
We live in dangerous times, where some young men routinely carry weapons along with an attitude of unforgiveness. At UNITE INDY we believe that big problems require big solutions. Solutions that bring every valuable player to the table. In this case, they are the Mayor’s office, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the 10-Point Coalition as well as other urban churches, Stop The Violence Indianapolis, the Urban League, the Race & Cultural Relations Leadership Network, the business community, and others with interest and influence.
For the past year every power in the country has been part of the effort to stop a virus. But what about this virus? So far this year, criminal gun homicides are up almost 40 percent over 2020, yet we haven’t come up with the coordinated, multi-targeted effort we need to save lives here. If only a mask could stop a bullet.
So, back to the quote: Hamilton’s Washington is right. Living is harder. It’s harder to live having lost a son or a daughter. It’s harder to walk by that place on the block where he lay bleeding after he was shot. It is harder to live knowing you’ll never see who she might have become, and every night it is harder to sit next to that empty chair.
I won’t speculate on whether “dying is easy” as the quote says—although it may be easier than living in a world of armed violence and hatred. So many of our loved ones are gone and cannot tell us if it’s easy or not.
Jim
Published by