Thank goodness the SpaceX Dragon capsule made it safely off the ground to successfully dock with the International Space Station last weekend. If not for that monumental achievement, the weekend would have been one of the most tragic and depressing in American history.

John Balentine, a former managing editor for the Lakes Region Weekly, lives in Windham.

Similar to the opening line of Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities,” it was truly the best of weekends due to NASA’s first manned space flight since 2011 and America’s first commercial space mission ever, with NASA teaming with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

But it was also the worst of weekends due to widespread rioting and looting in the wake of police brutality in Minneapolis.

Many Americans last week watched in disbelief the video of white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killing black man George Floyd. We then watched with equal disbelief as angry mobs descended on the city and other cities around the country to protest, loot and burn, destroying a police precinct in the process.

The average American is struck dumb by the whole episode. All we can do is appreciate the many police officers and National Guard troops around the country that are once again forming into thin blue lines to protect people and property against rioters who are accomplishing nothing but marring Floyd’s memory.

We can’t thank you enough. We can’t pay you enough. We can admire you enough. You are brave heroes keeping us safe and secure.

It’s during times like these we fully and humbly realize that law abiding and peace loving citizens have nothing but the police to protect them. Sorry NRA folks, no home defense shotgun or AR-15 will stop the marauding masses. Only a well-armed police or military force can do so.

It’s also during times like these that we realize how fortunate we are to have brave men and women willingly patrol and defend their communities. It’s a thankless job that’s getting more thankless and dangerous as the years go by.

The riots in the wake of the Floyd killing were sad for the amount of bloodshed and property damage they inflicted, but also illogical and ironic. Yes, Chauvin committed a pure act of evil, but so did the responding mobs. They revealed their own prejudice by broadly targeting rank-and-file police officers, assuming all members of the police have racial prejudice.

Such is the mob mentality, though: no logic, just hate.

In the end, and in the eyes of the average person, the demonstrators do themselves and their cause of racial equality a disservice by somehow equating violence with righteous retribution and believing violence will change hearts and minds. They fail to acknowledge that the vast majority of police serve and put their lives on the line because they love their communities and want the best for every inhabitant.

The SpaceX mission and police response to the riots have one common thread: Both efforts required personal bravery in the face of possible injury or death.

Astronauts Ben Behnken and Doug Hurley donned their spacesuits and waved goodbye to their families, braving death in pursuit of the mission. Likewise, police officers and National Guard members bravely defended not only their city streets but also the concept of civilized society.

Though the rioters’ wanton destruction is the worst our society can muster, we can take pride and solace following last weekend’s tale of two Americas that we are still the home of the brave.