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Late last week, I researched ancient Greek history and the Delphic oracle, looking for something profound to say about how they dealt with the plague that struck Athens thousands of years ago.

That did not work as planned.

Peaceful protesters are being tear-gassed as I type this, and I'm left with this question: Who am I to speak about George Floyd?

Who am I to discuss police brutality; to weigh in on race? Why should I, among anyone in the world, be allowed an opinion?

This tangle has been created by hundreds of years of neglect, and my tiny little toothpick of a column is going to undo it? I'm going to just lay it all out for you, explain it all, fix it, do anything of value? Who am I?

Actually, who are any of you on Twitter and Facebook, and on CNN, FOX and MSNBC? Who has told you that you have the answer so many times that you've believed it? From where does your certainty spring?

I'm asking because, frankly, I'm jealous.

When a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into George Floyd's neck for nine minutes, cutting off the blood to his brain, millions of people knew what to say and do, but I am not one of them. Mostly, I think I should show how smart I am by shutting up.

Some have made eloquent statements, moving entreaties and passionate displays, many of them even in Chicago suburbs.

Evanston, Illinois, Mayor Steve Hagerty criticized Floyd's killing. Mundelein, Illinois, Mayor Steve Lentz said protests had happened the right way in his town. Police chiefs from Deerfield, Illinois, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, said Floyd's killing disturbed them as officers of the law. Cardinal Blase Cupich went further, releasing a statement full of grief and self-examination.

"The fix begins," he wrote, "when we stop talking about the proportionality of 'their' response and start talking about the proportionality of 'ours.'"

As small as my platform is, it is greater than the one held by many. I have been granted the ability to think about these topics esoterically as opposed to viscerally. My sons are white, and neither I nor my husband are police officers. I don't have looters breaking in the windows of my business. I don't risk being assaulted or jailed.

But I just can't stop thinking about the quote carved into one of the walls of the Delphic oracle: "Know thyself."

Most people mistakenly believe that motto, "Know thyself," was telling pilgrims to examine their thoughts or their feelings. More likely, it was an ego check.

Not "Know thyself" as in "Figure yourself out," but "Know thyself" as in "Don't get a big head."

The ancient Greeks were big on humility and avoiding hubris, the kind of pride they admonished against with "Know thyself."

They were saying: There may be gods, but you're not one of them.

So, as I try to formulate my thoughts, I keep thinking: There may be a God, but I am not him. I don't know how to heal this country, how to wring compassion from the stone-hearted, how to soothe an inflamed population who have been denied and pushed aside.

I don't know how to show someone who does not see it that inside, the rage being displayed toward the president, toward police and toward our nation comes from human beings shivering with fear and pain.

If you do, I will gladly offer this space for your words, if you send them to me. In the meantime, here's what the Bible has to say: Thou shalt not kill.

To learn more about Georgia Garvey, visit GeorgiaGarvey.com.

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