The Human Mind: To Believe or Not to Believe

Long ago I discovered that we humans tend to want our expectations to meet reality in order to create a sense of equilibrium. Some of us will even avoid and/or ignore sources of information (facts) & situations that go against what they believe(or want to believe) to avoid a feeling of uneasiness & being wrong. If this uneasiness is not reduced by changing one's belief, it can result in restoring in misperception(s), rejection or arguing against the information (facts), seeking support from others who share their (false)beliefs, and attempting to persuade others.
I have tried my entire life to fully understand this as well as avoid being like this. I have to constantly keep this in mind and always keep information coming in by seeking knowledge from many, any, & all sources. My brain as well as yours is a sort & order clerk always sifting through data. 
This is why I do not force my children to believe in any religious school of thought. I am fully aware that one day they will make that choice for themselves. So I allow them to learn about them all. Upon adulthood they will choose whether to believe or not and pick what it is exactly they want to believe in. This I hope will avoid them being narrow minded & having tunnel vision. This is true FREEDOM! This is just me and I'm just saying...
...what say you?

Antoinette Tuff Describes How She Talked the Ga. School Gunman Into Surrendering

Atlanta school shooting averted; clerk Antoinette Tuff describes confrontation

By Max Ehrenfreund, Published: August 21

Shots were fired Tuesday at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy, an elementary school outside of Atlanta. Police took Michael Brandon Hill, 20, into custody and said later that he was carrying an AK-47 rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition, the Associated Press reported.

Fortunately, no one was injured. The outcome seems largely due to Antoinette Tuff, a school clerk, who told ABC affiliate WSB-TV that she met the gunman when he entered the building.

“He had a look on him that he was willing to kill,” Tuff said. “He said he didn’t have any reason to live, and he knew he was going to die today.” Tuff said she began telling him the story of her own life in order to calm him down. She described how her separation from her husband after 33 years of marriage left her feeling lonely and in pain, but she encouraged the man not to succumb to despair.

She said she prayed for the gunman during the crisis, and credited God with helping her maintain her composure.

“I give it all to God. I’m not the hero. I was terrified,” she said.

At one point, the man exchanged gunfire with police. Tuff said she convinced the man to stand down so that he would not be killed.

“I just explained to him that I loved him,” she said. “I didn’t know his name, I didn’t know much about him, but I did love him.”

Eventually, Tuff persuaded the man to surrender to police.

“It was scary because I knew that at the moment, he was ready to take my life along with his, and that if I didn’t say the right thing then we all would be dead,” she told ABC.

Hill has been charged with assault against an officer, making threats, and illegally possessing a firearm.

LISTEN: Full, Gripping 911 Call From Georgia School Shooting

by Matt Wilstein | 9:44 pm, August 21st, 2013

The full 911 call from the narrowly averted school shooting in Georgia yesterday has been released and tonight on CNN, Anderson Cooper played an extended excerpt from it for his audience. In the video below, you can hear school bookkeeperAntoinette Tuff calmly relay messages from the 20-year-old shooter Michael Brandon Hill, while she slowly helps talk him out of killing students.

On the 911 call, Tuff can be heard telling to operator to keep the police out of the school or else Hill will begin shooting. At one point, she says he’s gone outside and started shooting. She considers running to a safe place, but apparently does not have time before he returns.

Hill instructs Tuff to put the 911 operator on hold and “call the news.” When she returns to the 911 operator, Huff says, “he doesn’t want the kids, he wants the police so back off” and “he said he don’t care if he die and he don’t have nothing to live for, and he said he’s not mentally stable.”

Later, Tuff calls one of Hill’s relatives, asking him if it’s OK to “tell her to let her come” to the school. “She sound like she loves you a lot,” she tells Hill. Eventually, Tuff asks the operator, “If I walk out there with him, they won’t shoot him or anything like that? He wants to give himself up. Is that okay? They won’t shoot him?”

When she finally get him to surrender, Tuff tells Hill, “We not going to hate you, baby. It’s a good thing that you giving up, so we’re not going to hate you.” She tells Hill she’s “proud” of him and that he shouldn’t worry. “We all go through something in life,” Tuff says.

Stop and Frisk vs. The Constitution

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As I've sat patiently on the sidelines listening to the protest against the NYPD's Stop-n-Frisk policy over the years I have to admit that I, yes me an ordinary person, know the truth about whether the policy is fair or not. I know why crime has really went down since the second term of Mayor David Dinkins. I know why they use the policy claiming it is fair when they know that it is not.
In order to understand fully this sad situation in New York City we must first understand the importance of the US Constitution. The Constitution is the foundation of this, our country's government. It gives us us rights which protect us from our government invading our privacy, searching and seizing us or our property. It is supposed to ensure that the government doesn't violate those rights afforded us in the Constitution. Many people however do not use the Constitution to keep the NYPD and other police agencies in check.
Even if the NYPD keeps using this sad policy if they arrest a person for having contraband they can fight and beat the charges in court. Last time I checked one hearing they can request is a Mapp hearing to determine if the evidence was obtained legally. If found to be illegal then the whole case will be thrown out.
Now the reason they say that the numbers show that this policy works is not exactly true nor fair. By keeping this policy in place it ensures that many people who would probably walk around with guns and/or other contraband will not because their chances of getting caught are greater. However, the collateral damage is just not worth it. Constant police presence with out violating our rights is enough to deter crime. They just like using the Stop-n-Frisk style surge to instill much more fear. Since about 88 to 90 % of the STOPS turn up nothing and the rest are usually persons with no ID or minor forms of contraband we must ask is it worth giving up our rights. Ask as well the stats on how many murders go unsolved in New York City. Maybe they are afraid of going after real criminals and use this policy with the hopes of either catching real criminals by chance or just making it appear that they are doing such a great job keep the city safe.
Fact is that the culture of NYC has changed much since the 90s. Children and teenagers are now growing up indoors more than they were 20 years ago. This means thye they are less likely to be outside getting into trouble.