I'll have to admit,I didn't intend to publish today.For reasons of my own,completely unrelated to current news,I'm not really fit company for any other living soul today,and so it would have been better to hold off for a day or two. I've never really considered op-ed improv to be the best activity for a thoughtful writer.Just too much chance of getting something wrong.But I just feel compelled.
Yesterday I saw a video that I consider to be among the most disturbing things I've ever witnessed.I'm not going to describe it in any detail,as most of you have likely seen it too.It was a video of a cop shooting a black man.And,it was not the only incident of black death coming at the hands of law enforcement officers this week.We could hope and pray it will be the last.We'd be deluding ourselves.
I've tried hard to overcome that old cliche about the frog in the pot of boiling water,but it's time to jump out of the pot. I've just realized what is really happening to our society,and by that I mean American society,but not limited to American society.I wonder why it took me so long to realize...
I want to think about the idea that Black Lives Matter.Why would anyone be saying something that on one level would seem so profoundly obvious? My knee jerk reaction to this is that of course they matter.All lives matter. I've responded to friends in exactly those words dozens of times.And to right minded people,I'm sure it seems right.But are we really living that ideal out in modern society in our daily lives? Time to think.
Black Lives Matter,I believe must be understood as a response to reality,even if that is not my reality,or your reality.The reason that such an obvious belief is turned into a modern day crusade is that at some level,we've ceased to be a life affirming society.Perhaps at every level.
It's a bit hard to see where it all began.In the Jim Crow Era?Perhaps.With Roe V.Wade? Again,perhaps.We are some forty years down that road and the world today,right now seems worse than it's ever been,and yet it seems to be spiraling further downward,and I have the most profound fear of where this all will end.Jim Crow would seem to be making a comeback. And while I cannot logically connect our current predicament with Roe V. Wade,I believe it's no mere coincidence that they occur in the same general era.I could keep heaping eggs into this basket:the right to die,which is evolving into a responsibility to die,though that's still largely unstated but felt.It may evolve into a value. Islamophobia. Just the latest form of xenophobia.Let's just build a fence.The problem is that what that really does is that it reveals a very real intent to wish those who are not like us out of existence as an ideal.That could apply to homeless people,disabled or aged people,people politically dissimilar to us,people black,red,yellow or purple with green spots.Depriving anyone of the full rights of society,including their life is nothing less than wishing them dead,and,really,how dare any of us do that.What a completely sick and depraved world we've become.
So now there are numerous police officers shot down in Dallas.Shot at a protest over the killing of yet another black man.Another response to reality?Likely.I'm not satisfied that we can yet connect this incident to Black Lives Matter,though many today in my community are now calling them terrorists.For my part,I want to wait and see.But,let me say that either way,Black Lives Matter exists because somewhere along the line we've said individually or collectively,"life may matter,but not all life matters equally.Perhaps it doesn't matter very much." How much of the problem lies in the idea that life doesn't seem to make as much difference to us,or at least to as many of us as it once did? And yes,Police lives matter too.So do all lives.
Today,I find myself disenchanted,with particular events,and with the world in general.And disenchanted is a dangerous thing to be.We need to find a way to get something we once valued back,before this world changes our brains to the point where we can no longer recall why we ever valued life.Easier said than done maybe.Where do we start? Have you hugged your kids today? Have you told someone how much they matter to you,or have you just assumed they knew? Have you been kind to someone,or is that a little lacking? Have you been continually in prayer,even for those you despise? These are all life affirming activities,however small.If you see a Muslim family on the way to mosque today,smile at them.We used to believe in human kindness not so long ago.Can you imagine that a person,as dissimilar to you as your mind will let you see is worth every bit as much respect as you or your closest friends? It's not going to make all the killing stop.But we've reached a critical mass of hatred,fear,distrust and lack of reverence for life.We may be pushing a boulder uphill,but if we don't make the effort,if we don't critically examine our ways,our secret thoughts,that critical mass will overcome us,change our values forever,maybe even destroy us all.Whatever our various beliefs,life was intended to be held sacred.I needs to be so again
Blyndpapaya.
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