Kickass and fear of falling

Kickass, the doorstop dog, listens as the keeper says maybe it helps to be an old man to really feel the impact of the video showing 75-year-old Martin Gugino being pushed by police and then stumbling backwards, hitting his head on the concrete, and then lying unconscious and bleeding as police ignore him.

The fear of falling is a constant when youthful strength and vigor begin to diminish, and every move includes a calculation as to its “fall” threat.  An elderly neighbor—Bob Wills, recently suffered a broken hip from falling while simply bending to pick up something.  Bob is reportedly recovering nicely, and the hospital word on Gugino is that he is conscious and stable.

There is horrible symbolism in the Gugino video—of a socially sanctioned “control” tool that pushes old men down and ignores their bleeding plight in the interests of the mission, that being to get demonstrators off the streets.  The keeper asks just what the hell have we come to when such priorities are built into the system?

The outrageous answer is in the resignation of 57 members of the response unit who objected to the disciplining of those who pushed Gugino.

The resignations need to go higher and wider, the keeper contends, even to application of the Pogo axiom: “We have met those who should resign and they are us.”