Teachable Moments

If there is one thing you can say about life is that is it full of teachable moments. Big things and little things happen in our lives or happen around us from which we can learn and apply in some way to ourselves. Recently, one such moment - a high profile one - occurred involving one of our country's most respected scholars, Dr. Henry Louis Gates of Harvard University. A passer-by saw this individual fiddling at the front door of a house and was not sure what this person's intentions were. So, she called in her suspicions to the Cambridge, MASS police. They promptly dispatched an officer to investigate. When the officer, Sgt. James Crowley, arrived he immediately saw that that individual was inside the house. The individual turned out to be Gates who had forgotten his house keys and was actually trying to break into his own house when the pass-by noticed him. Sgt. Crowley confronted Gates who became agitated about why he was being questioned by a police officer for being in his own home. The so-called discussion between Gates and Crowley then went from bad to worse. It led to Gates being arrested for disturbing the peace, handcuffed and taken down to the police station. Charges against him were dropped.

Soon afterward, President Obama was criticized for characterizing the actions of the Cambridge police as being "stupid." He later backed-off a bit from his initial reaction. Since then, the President has described this entire episode as having the potential of being a "teachable moment" for the nation. I agree. The question, then, is what is it are we supposed to learn from this?

For starters, it is easy to see how untapped emotions can get in the way effective communication. Under cooler circumstances, Dr. Gates could simply have explained what he had been doing, Sgt. Crowley could have replied that he was simply doing his job, and the two would have gone on with the rest of their day. But what transpired was not a calm situation. My guess is the two were blinded by anger and frustration and were not of a mind to be reasonable, to listen or to think all that clearly. As a result, two-way communication was replaced by yelling, force and ego.

It is not difficult to understand why Dr. Gates was angry. Nor is it a stretch to see how Sgt. Crowley felt his authority was being challenged. In an ideal situation, however, neither individual should have let these feelings over power their more rational thoughts. While there is nothing wrong with being emotional, it should not be to the extent that one stops thinking in a rational manner. Emotions and rationality should work in tandem. One result is clear thinking, good listening and respectful and wise behavior.