JMJ
Every time I sit down to write, I intend to be positive. I think I will celebrate the beauty of life, and talk of love. In short order, I am ranting against this, or raging against that, pontificating against injustice, or unjustly pontificating. It seems so easy to be angry. So easy to be frustrated. So easy to point out and pick at the flaws of others, society, or even myself. Pick, criticize, “attack” is the bread and butter of social media.
Look at the news. Protesters shouting each other down sometimes descending into violence. Politicians resorting to the same tactics, essentially “fiddling” while America burns. No dialogue. Just people stating their opinion, which each one claims to be a “self-evident truth.”
People excuse the recent riots as being the “language of the Unheard.” “The Unheard” being people rendered mute by societal oppression or repression finding their self-expression in acts of violence. The problem with the language of violence is that it is only a “spoken” language; this is, the language of violence make no provision for its speaker to hear, much less consider, the thoughts or ideas of others be they friend or foe. It is a language that allows expression to exit, but closes its speaker to any external input. The speaker, having been healed of his or her muteness, has become deaf and blind. When this happens, the one who was oppressed becomes the mirror reflection of the oppressor. The oppressed, rather than the oppressor, is thus converted and the imposition of will becomes the highest good, and should success be achieved in deposing the previous tyrant, the void will be filled with a new tyrant. Tyrant for tyrant. Nothing changed.
The new “cancel culture” is equally oppressive. It represents an unwillingness to hear. This seems to be the child of social media where all things that affirm one’s self are desirable and any opinion otherwise is swiftly shamed, deleted, blocked, unfriended, erased. Now, it seems, we want to do the same with people. If we do not like what they say, rather then to be engaged and convinced, they are to be erased from society, even being denied jobs. This kind of ostracization is not only evil, but reveals those who engage in such inhumane activities admittedly have no strength of argument resulting from the fact that their position is untenable or they have not the wit to defend it.
Other than Jesus Christ, who is the Truth, truth has been mastered by no single man or woman. The search for truth is a human endeavor, one upon which we must embark together. It is the search that binds us for it can never be fully comprehended by man. Similarly, if a person should say to you, “I understand fully the mind of God.” it would be wise for you to put as much distance between you and that person as quickly as humanly possible. Any one claiming to know fully the mind of God, or to be the master of truth will soon come to think that they alone are the source of justice, and once again, a tyrant is born.
Ideologies function in much the same way. They become closed and in their stagnation corruption and filth emerge, and soon they are poisoning the clear water, the fresh air, and the minds of all they encompass. Political parties are such ideologies. They stake their positions and compassion, empathy, and loved be damned, they will not be swayed. With all the vitriol, hatred, name calling, nothing is achieved with 320,000,000 lives hanging in the balance and perhaps the world. This is not a game. This is not reality tv. This is REALITY. Trump will get an airport or golf course named after him, Pelosi with get a plaque in some Federal Bldg. and in the meanwhile, countless babies are aborted, people die due to lack of healthcare, men and women live on the streets and refugees languish on the southern border.
We are called, by Jesus, to love one another. We are called, by Jesus, to work toward the common good. We are called, by Jesus, to bring people to God. Do we think the way to achieve this is to demonize the other?
Are we so certain of ourselves that we don’t think we have something to learn from them? We do not learn compassion from compassionate people. Compassion seems an inner stirring of God’s Holy Spirit, something hidden within our nature that become activated in a situation that calls for compassion. Compassion is something that is heard in the heart at a deep spiritual level, yet we are all to busy screaming about the lack of compassion of the other to hear its call in ourselves and find the compassion to, with relentless love, reach out to the other and enter into dialogue that we may help the other discover the God within his self, and he may help us find the God within ourselves. Judge not for with the same measure with which you measure you shall be judged.
Mercy. Forgiveness. Humility. Kindness. Good Faith. Gentleness. Love. These are steps on the path to the Kingdom of Heaven. Mercy is not tearing down. Forgiveness is not imposition of will. Humility is not criticism. Kindness is not appeasement. Good Faith is not suspicious. Gentleness is not weakness. Love is not taking.
Once again. Mercy. Forgiveness. Humility. Kindness. Good Faith. Gentleness. Love. These are steps on the path to the Kingdom of Heaven.
(C) Copyright 30 August 2020
For Lourdes Sake 
Well said, Erik. Truth can only be seen by those with truth in them.
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