We all experience events that forever etch into the fabric of our souls.
Sadly, for me those events were shrouded in violence.
I remember sitting in my sixth grade class, tears rolling down my face. It was one week before my twelfth birthday.
Our school’s principal had just announced President Kennedy had been assassinated.
Five years later, Martin Luther King and the President’s brother, Bobby, were taken in similar fashion.
I was frightened then. I am frightened now.
Frightened for All
I often joke about my middle child of seven syndrome. How it rallied me to defend the uniqueness we each possess.
Shaped by the events of my youth, that middle child status also instilled a need for acceptance. A quest to understand that my beliefs may not be your beliefs. The fabric to your soul will be different from mine.
Understanding takes effort. Yet, too often, judgment occurs long before we could possibly understand.
I am frightened we use words to inflict pain. I am terrified we use violence as any answer at all.
How do we turn this around? How can we not try?
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Live…Laugh…Love
A question we all have to think about, Cathy. You’ve got to the heart of the matter: rushing to judgement and violence doesn’t solve the issues.
No, they do not, Sharon. It is so scary to see how out of control we have become. I pray we can step back and think about better answers to our issues.
Amen to that, Cathy!
I was just having a (what I felt was a one-sided) conversation today.
We have someone running for President who believes that violence and hatred is acceptable to achieve one’s goals.
We have too many police who feel they have the power and are answerable only to themselves.
We have too many citizens who watch the jerk running around saying we can kick people around, it’s ok to hate, it’s ok to claim the President is illegitimate, and then the police doing similarly. And, they feel they have the right to do likewise. Without once considering all this activity simply forms a nihilistic, destructive cycle that causes more violence and bloodshed.
And, The Supreme Being has not provided me with the magic wand to set this straight.
If you find that magic wand, Roy, let me know. I would love to be there
Roy, perhaps the Supreme Being is testing humankind to see if we can work this out for ourselves?
I don’t understand why civility is such a difficult thing for so many people to grasp. If more people even tried to follow the Golden Rule—do unto others as you’d have them do unto you—the world would be a much better place. It’s sad so many people prefer the “eye for an eye” approach to problem solving, since that only perpetuates the problems.
Amen, Paula!