Theme:– Operation C.R.U.S.H. Against Gun Violence, Bias and Clouded Vision

President Obama made a visit to Chicago recently to drum-up support for Democratic candidates. His trip started out with a Business Roundtable where he “rubbed shoulders,” but was overshadowed by the Fort Hood Shooting. Meanwhile, Mayor Rahm Emanual finds himself between a rock and a hard place.

He’s faced with some serious challenges common to many urban cities. There’re the problems with school closings and street violence to name a few. The most pressing issue it seems deals with tackling the shortfall in pension funds. He’s not shrinking away from the challenge even with the clock ticking.

Some Chicago insiders and elected officials believe this issue is a game-changer. But maybe it’s the way Emanuel is dealing with it head-on that best fits the description. It could serve as a good example for how as a nation we might deal with gun violence. Every time there’s a shooting people analyze without action.

There’s a tendency to point fingers everywhere else but where it belongs. The latest complaints have been about people with mental health issues. Some want to blame the crazies when maybe the buck stops with us the sane. We keep allowing dangerous weapons to get into the hands of unstable people.

Emanuel is known as a tough-nosed guy. The challenges facing Chicagoans exists in others cities and states as well. The pension fund problem is about money and as we know “money talks.” So, is it going to take putting a dollar value on life and death to address gun violence with the same sense of urgency?

Footnote: The problems of urban plight are not fixed by simply pointing fingers at those seen as the “lazies or crazies” but by lifting fingers and empowering lives to be like the sane.