Category: nonviolence

When will I ever learn?

After I dipped my toe into the current political discussion Monday morning, by noon I wished I had not.

I have previously resolved not to involve myself in such nonsense, instead trying to emulate my old pal Paul, who wrote, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.”

There is nothing true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy about politics and government, and yet every so often I forget myself and write about it anyway.

As I wrote to a friend on Facebook after a small kerfuffle, “I do usually regret leaping into the fray. More than 50 years after Pete Townshend put it so succinctly — ‘Meet the new boss, same as the old boss’ — most people still don’t get it. I should chalk that up to ‘things I cannot change’ and concentrate on the important stuff.”

A very dear friend from my ancient past wrote, “funny that your perception of reality is so totally different than mine.”

“I agree. It’s the most interesting thing about these present times,” I responded.

And so, except when I forget my resolution, I write in this space about love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I try not to be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. That’s probably one of the reasons why the analytics say my audience rarely rises about two or three dozen readers. Noise sells.

That won’t stop me from sitting quietly in my old blue chair, a golden retriever snout against my foot, seeking a still, small voice that calls me to add beauty to this nutty world, not more discord.

I apologize for the misstep.

Negotiating dystopia with love

I so want to start the week with encouraging words, but as I sat in my quiet living room searching for those words, my mind was distracted by the weekend news of riots in France by “demonstrators” who seem to share ideology in common with the organizations that back the mostly peaceful gatherings that were occurring on this side of the Atlantic. It feels inevitable to me that we are creeping back towards the sort of dystopia that hung over the US of A from 2021 to 2024.

Lest you jump to conclusions, let me hasten to add that I am no big fan of the incumbent administration these days, either. The lesser of two evils is still evil.

But I find myself contemplating how I might cope with what seems to be an inevitable descent into even more unpleasant times, given my preference for liberty and peace.

“Love God and love your neighbor” is the law I live. How do I interact with those who mean to tear down the country and rebuild it in their image? “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And what about those who invade and attempt to close churches and synagogues, or censor dissent, as they have done before? “Love your enemies.”

This is why the most important commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” — because there are some people who are hard to love without divine intervention, people who are filled with hate and have no objection to violence. We cannot defeat them by hating them and countering their violence with violence, however; we must meet them with peace and with love. Doing so is the equivalent of heaping burning coals on their heads, and they quite possibly will lash out with intensified violence, like a child in mid-tantrum. We restrain the child to prevent further damage, but we act in love.

That’s easy for me to say; I am miles from the epicenter. Lord grant me the strength and the patience to meet the haters with love, should I ever encounter them.

Living and dying in the US of A

The death penalty has been back in the news, with word of a failed execution in Tennessee and discussion of how to proceed, not to mention the announcement that the firing-squad execution of a mass murderer will be live-streamed. And horrifying crime is again in the news after a jury failed to convince one holdout that it’s OK to strangle your three young children to death if you’re in the throes of postpartum depression. 

I am never OK with the forcible taking of human life. I believe only God has the right to decide who’s to live and die. I know that’s a song lyric, not a Bible verse — even the Bible contends there’s “a time for war” — but despite all attempts at rationalization or justification, I abhor killing humans under all circumstances, and I especially don’t want government proclaiming that sometimes it’s appropriate.

I was horrified from the start by the Supreme Court’s decision that condoned the slaughter of unborn children, and when accused of hypocrisy I could honestly reply, “No, I DO also oppose the death penalty,” and for good measure I might mention that I don’t condone war, to boot.

And so when the state botched the execution of an evil murderer, I was saddened in part because the state proved to be incompetent at yet another task. I have a somewhat inhumane reason for opposing the death penalty — since I believe in heaven even for those who sincerely repent of their sins and present their lives to Jesus late in the game, I believe in denying them entry into heaven for as long as possible until God decides he’s good and ready to take that once-evil soul. That makes me a big fan of life without parole for the most heinous crimes.

I do hope never to second-guess a person who defends herself and causes the death of someone who wants to kill her, but I do regret whenever a human dies, even a deranged would-be killer.

But I will not second-guess a decision to put a bungie cord around the necks of three defenseless children and squeeze the life out of them. There is a woman who must be put away in a place where she can never harm another human. Don’t waste your time trying to tell me “what drove her to it.”

I surrender the burden of choosing who lives or dies to my Lord and my Redeemer. And so, here is another day that Lord has made, and off I go to rejoice.