As we all continue to discuss the issue of police shootings, I want to frame the discussion in a new way, perhaps in a way that will help us all move forward, toward an America of love and acceptance. For this I will need a little bit of help. Enter our old pal, Al.
Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity is a way to explain phenomena in relation to each other, hence the root of the name, "relative." What it really tells us is that the TRUTH of what is happening depends on your vantage point. An illustration of this point that I remember from an old book (Physics for the Rest of Us was the name, I believe) goes something like this:
Imagine two people, one sitting on a train (let's call her Teri), the other in his car waiting beside the tracks at those annoying crossing thingies (let's name him Gary). In front of Teri is a table and on that table are two mirrors. One mirror lays flat on the table, reflective side up. The other mirror hovers one foot above the first, reflective side down. Between these mirrors is an electron, but it is as big as a golf ball and travels as slowly as a bouncing ball. And it is bouncing, between the mirrors, straight up and down. Got that image in your head? Great! Let's move on.
So this beam of light is bouncing in front of Teri, up and down, up and down, while she is traveling down the tracks on the train. The train is going, say, 20 mph. As the train passes by Gary, he sees the little light bouncing. "This is odd," he thought, so he starts up his dash cam and takes a video to show his wife because, let's face it, if he tells her this story without one she'll just think he's been out drinking again, and nobody needs that drama. So the train passes by as he gets a perfect recording because, thankfully, Teri's table is sitting right in the window.
Later that night, Gary convinces his wife to go out to the car with him. She is disappointed when she realizes that it's not going to be some kind of nostalgic, "after the high school football game" kind of visit, but Gary wants to show her some video instead. She shrugs and he hits "play." As they watch the video, they notice that, since the camera was fixed straight ahead, the electron traced a sort of picket fence pattern across the screen. Gary has video evidence that the electron was bouncing up and down and moving, making this pattern. He posts it to Youtube and, of course it goes viral because, who has ever seen such a thing!? Well, one person has, and her name is Teri.
Teri knew that people would start thinking that her electron was bouncing around so she wanted to prove that it was actually just sitting still, bouncing up and down. Luckily, she had a video of this that she posted to Snapchat. Fortunately, someone saved it and then posted the copy to Twitter, where it too went viral.
So the world is in an uproar, because we have two videos, two pieces of irrefutable evidence that seem to refute each other... Thanks a lot Al! So, what does this have to do with anything? I'm hoping that you have already figured out my point, but in case someone wants to be sure I know what the heck I'm even talking about, I'll wrap it up.
As we listen to news stories these days, it's important to keep in mind that the truth is sometimes, no, usually more elusive than what the reports might lead us to believe. The truth, like gravity, is a powerful and compelling force. Once it gets ahold of you, you are powerless to resist it. However, we have learned how to evade the truth. The forces of each diminish the further out you travel. Even though a galaxy may be hundreds of light years away, we are experiencing some of its effects as slight as they are. In this way, even if we are light years away from the truth, we are not fully free of it. A satellite orbits the earth, using the constant pull of gravity coupled with the initial inertia granted it (minus the combined effects of all other forces, of course). An idea can orbit for a long time as well, but only if it remains a certain distance from the truth.
We have to begin to recognize what aspects of what we see and hear can be kept and which need to be discarded. We need to take the train into consideration when talking about Gary and Teri. We can't continue to have discussion about things and leave out known facts. We need to try and give legitimacy to the other points of view whenever it is warranted. We need to heal ourselves from all of this hate.
Thanks for reading and as always, if you think someone else might enjoy reading this please share!
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make thee free."
John 8:32 - KJV
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