DEAR EDITOR:

A previous letter by this writer that referenced the George Floyd incident, “Our actions always bring consequences,” stating that the unintended consequences of our actions hurt the ones we love, seems appropriate for today in Minnesota.

The current situation there echoes a similar anguish after the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, as in the death of George Floyd. Bad consequences after actions by the governor, the mayor, the paid protesters, the passenger in the car, the federal ICE and border agents and the deceased resulted in deaths.

As I’ve read in a college thesis regarding jet engine failures, oftentimes one problem by itself may not cause a crash, but when the “Swiss cheese effect” becomes evident and all the holes (problems) align, then the engine fails. One problem by itself may be compensated for by other parts, but when many problems exist and the holes line up, a catastrophe happens.

Applying this theory to Minnesota, the governor’s and the mayor’s language and refusal to work with federal agents created a climate of animosity (hole one), then nonpeaceful paid protesters and their followers put fuel on the fire (hole two). When Good and her friend showed up and interfered with federal agents, as did an armed Pretti in his confrontation with Border Patrol (holes three and four), the holes were lining up and the spark was the passenger who yelled, “Go, go!” and the border agent who yelled, “He has a gun!” (holes five and six). Now the holes are in line, and the natural reactions were to gun the engine without regard to an agent near the front of her car and for the border agent to fire his gun in respons to “He has a gun!”

We’ll never know if Good would have complied with orders to get out of the car or to calmly drive away, avoiding the agent, but she made a bad decision to gun the engine. Pretti inserted himself into a situation that he should have avoided — another bad decision and in both cases, someone died and loved ones were hurt as well, and ICE and border agents are being vilified.

All of this might have been avoided if: former President Joe Biden never opened the border, millions obeyed existing immigration laws and entered legally, Minnesota officials cooperated with federal officials, paid protesters did not show up, and the deceased chose not to interfere.

If any of the “Swiss cheese holes” did not occur, preventing alignment, quite possibly the outcome would be much different. All share the responsibility for what happened.

Only Jesus is perfect. It is better to follow God’s plan (the Ten Commandments) than to suffer bad consequences from poor decisions.

RONALD SICAFUSE

Pola