Sunday, February 26, 2017

A hate crime and running free

With all the crap flying about, I didn't focus right away on the murder last week of one man and injury to two others in Olathe, Kansas. The shooter seemed to be one of those crazed aging white men who rant at Those People to "get out of my country." It all just seemed one more expression of the general disinhibition of hate that the Ranter-in-Chief has loosed; the Ranter is denying this, naturally. Not to mention that our nuts can easily stock up on the weapons of war.

When I got around to reading the particulars, I learned a little about Srinivas Kuchibhotla, the engineer who died of his wounds, and his friend Alok Madasani who was injured (as was an unconnected bar patron, Ian Grillot, who tried to intervene). Both South Asian Indians worked at the headquarters of Garmin, the tech firm known for its GPS devices.

Garmin is important to me. I own a couple of its fitness watches; they tell me how far I've run and thus free me up to explore trails with a random abandon I had not known until I used these devices. Garmin is part of my world.

Hate has killed within my world. Hate comes closer. Hate grows in potency and we resist as we can.
***
Since I've touched on running, I want to share this which is pure delight. Chau Smith is my idea of a runner, like me an old lady who won't quit, but unlike me possessed of some talent in addition to pure determination.
Since this video was made, she has run seven marathons in seven consecutive days on seven continents in celebration of her 70th birthday.

Smith ran all her marathons wearing a pink pussyhat.

"I hope I don't offend anyone, but I'm a woman. I have daughters. I have a granddaughter. I run to represent the women," Smith said. "I'm against any man, powerful man, who think they can do anything they want to women without our consent, without our permission."

Although the video shows Smith running on my home turf, she actually lives in Kansas City, not so far from the Olathe shooting.

This is a big, complicated country, worth trying to preserve against the tide of hate.

1 comment:

joared said...

I share your outrage at the needless loss of life at the hands of those who appear to have been unleashed by the rhetoric of the person who became our leader -- surely must not be a coincidence there's been such an increase in such crimes. I feel so sad for families of the victims -- most recently the Kansas men.