Reactions To No Boundaries — By John Reed

Reactions to No Boundaries
Last Saturday’s fireworks display at the fairgrounds marked the long-overdue return of a local tradition. A large appreciative crowd enjoyed live music, fresh food, and of course the exciting blasts of color and explosive noise in the sky. Kudos to Andrea and Sonya from the Chamber of Commerce and the rest who planned and executed a near-flawless event. And thanks as well to the county commission for their financial support: arguably the best use of public funds in quite a while.
Among all the fun times that night, I witnessed a sad, discordant note: a young mother, terrified that her children would be trampled by the crowd, attempted to distract people to draw them away from her kids. Others may have noticed the scene: a female killdeer bird flitting about, shrieking and doing her fake “broken wing limp” so common to her breed to lead danger away from her nest. That got me to thinking.
What might seem blind animal instinct is equally present in animals and humans too. What happens if a farmer doesn’t keep his fences in good repair? The cows get out. Anytime a boundary is removed, there is an instinct to move beyond it. In human society, laws serve as the boundaries that create order, and law enforcement are the gatekeepers. Once either fails or disappears, there will be some people to go past those boundaries.
And so it shouldn’t be a surprise that in cities where there’s been pullback in funding for police, or a decision to not enforce certain laws, there’s been an uptick in crime. In just this past weekend: Chicago had 69 shootings, 16 dead. Atlanta, 22 shootings, 4 dead. New York: 30 shootings, 10 dead. Detroit. Minneapolis. Los Angeles. St. Louis. That doesn’t count other crimes.
Let’s be clear: these weren’t police shooting civilians. These were the natural result of the gatekeepers not being allowed to do their job. The two-legged animals have escaped their cage, and the only surprise is that some people act surprised by the result.
Like so many previous movements, the current round of protests started with noble intentions and, to be honest, plenty of justification. Unfortunately, the pursuit of justice has been hijacked by other elements who saw the opportunity to cause havoc and make power plays of their own. The very people most vulnerable to crime and violence are now endangered even more.
It’s time to rebuild the fences and relock the gates.