The struggles that we share today are real. There truly is a virus that is turning societies around the globe upside down. Climate change is not an illusion. California is still burning. Unfortunately, so is Portland.
I think that it’s safe to say that we could all use a break from these issues. Someone please stop the news cycle for just a couple days!
Every day we see and hear people shouting at each other. Some of these people wear uniforms that designate the wearer as some authority. Police, Border Patrol, and who knows who else stand across streets with face masks and batons just waiting for someone to be foolish enough to challenge their authority. Other people, with bandannas wrapped around their faces and signs in their hands defiantly dare those authorities to bring it on.
How can we defuse this? Is it even possible to change this destructive narrative and bring about some kind of end to it, let alone reconciliation?
Maybe.
But, it will require effort.
The good news is, that effort can begin on one side of the issue. It doesn’t require everyone involved to be on board. In fact, one side may remain utterly opposed to any movement toward a peaceful settlement.
I have written the past couple days about movements and people who have been instrumental in bringing about peace and reconciliation. They did it without compromising their goals or their principles. And, they changed their world.
I wrote about the Voices of Ghandi and Dr. King. Their commitment to nonviolent resistance was unwavering as they confronted the injustices of colonialism and segregation.
I mentioned Jesus and His love for those who used Him, rejected Him, and betrayed Him. That love truly did flip the world on its ear.
All three of these people embodied a love for their enemies that I don’t see anywhere today.
Yeah, some of the families of murdered African Americans offer forgiveness to those who snatched the life from their loved ones. But, there is no one, no Voice, calling out that love can actually happen. And, that love can actually change anything.
“Really?” you may ask.
“Show me.”
On May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, Derek Chauvin, an officer with the Minneapolis Police Dept. pressed his knee on the neck of George Floyd for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Long enough to snuff out the life of Mr. Floyd. Chauvin has remained, as far as I know, remorseful even after being charged with murder.
Because of this heinous, willful act of violence a movement began to swell that has become a tsunami that threatens to sweep away oppressive systems that infect cultures worldwide.
What will replace those, I wonder. If of violence, racism, and other oppressive systems which form the superstructure of cultures are removed, what will culture be built upon?
These are questions for philosophers and people way smarter than I am.
One thing is necessary, though, for any rebuilding.
Love.
Ok, how can I love someone like Mr. Chauvin? He has a violent past. He has abused his authority on multiple occasions. And, he has callously taken a life that was not his to take.
God knows that’s a hard question. Maybe God can love someone like that! But, I ain’t God!
I’ve written before about how conservative Evangelicals belie their hatred and bigotry in the way they view the “Other.” The current administration in Washington has built its entire worldview on “Othering” people. Mexicans, Muslims, and citizens in cities like Portland are portrayed as “Those People.” Sadly, people who live in the suburbs of the U.S. have recently been assured that the “Others” won’t bother them.
In the pieces that I’ve shared I wrote that considering others as something ‘less than’ or something to be avoided or ignored is contrary to everything that I believe. It is also a foundational point in the one Book that so many people who claim to follow. The Bible calls out anyone who refuses to care for widows, orphans, and the foreigner living among you.
While that is all completely true, is there something there that we can learn about people like that murderer in Minneapolis? How about those damned snowflakes on the left? Those Libtards that don’t know what the world’s really like. Oh, let’s talk about those racist bastards and their Confederate battle flags! A basket full of Deplorables for sure! What can we say about the 1%? All those greedy bastards do is take, take, take.
Do you see what I did there? C’mon, look closely!
That’s right!
I never mentioned anyone’s name. I lumped them into vague categories that allows me to see them all a something less than human.
How many acts of inhumanity have there been in history? How many of those were helped along by first dehumanizing their victims?
“Those Jews are a threat to our pure, Arian race!”
“Blacks aren’t intelligent enough to vote!”
“Those Natives are a nuisance and must be erased!”
Whenever ANYONE dehumanizes another, hatred and violence are not far away.
Mr. Chauvin and people like him are the result of their culture. Just like you and me. Only, for him the influences created a person who has a skewed view of humanity. His world created him. In this way we can see him as a victim of the foul systems that pervade our world. And, because we also are victims of these same systems, albeit in differing ways, we may be able to find a degree of empathy.
Must we forgive and forget what he did?
No. We must never forget. And, forgiveness is not mine to give. He didn’t murder my loved one.
But, we must be able to Love. Not some sappy Hollywood emotional crap. That’s not love.
Love, agape, a verb is how we must move forward. There must be space given where Love can influence and, perhaps, reconciliation can happen.
That will never be possible, though, as long as people use violence and hatred against one another. That’s why we NEED a VOICE that can be heard above the shouts and flash-bangs and the tear gas. That’s why we people need to put down their own personal vendettas and embrace the common good.
I’m suggesting a position that is hard. Damned hard!
But, Love is never the easy path to take.
Just ask Ghandi, Martin, and Jesus.
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