Time to get to Work

The shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and of Philando Castile and of the five officers in Dallas?  All of these executions were obscene acts of evil.

I spent the day in transit to a wedding, but know social media exploded with respect to these acts, all of which bring to the public conscious the need to really look at ourselves and have an honest discussion about what we want as a nation, and what we don't.

Here's what I know.

There is a disproportionate level of incarceration, stops, arrests, charges and abuses of people of color by law enforcement, and we as a nation have to recognize that level of systemic abuse of power breeds nothing other than resentment.  

We also have to remember,  most cops don't make the news.  Most desire to protect and to serve, Most cops offer their lives on a daily basis, dealing with the hard reality that people do act badly, people do break the law, people do sometimes do those horrible things that make the news and need to be stopped.  It is not a disconnect to say black lives matter or to also say, blue lives matter.

The reality is always both and.   Neither should be ignored.  Both should be addressed.  Both must be if we want something other than what we have.

But being a ring side observer to the actual incidents, it's only human that we want to do something.  The temptation is to either rage or cry or to pray, but the reality is, we have to do more than feel, more than symbolically gesture.  We must somehow stand and speak and help make things happen so that these sort of things stop happening.  

So now you're wondering, what?  What do I do.

Blessed Mother Teresa was asked, "How can I change the world?"  She answered, "The best thing you can do is go home and love your family."  and she meant it.   I view our whole world as our family, and we've done a poor job of loving many of them.

Today, the best thing any of us can do is to go and be kind to every person we encounter and then, to keep doing it tomorrow, and every day after, until the violence of this week becomes something unthinkable for everyone, always.

Pray for peace, work for peace by being a source of peace to all you encounter.  We've watched, but the sideline times are over if we want a less angry world.   Time to get to work.

A Request Until She has a Face

The other day, I had to schlep several children to the pediatrician.  It was pouring rain and a difficult errand at best. Leaving with prescriptions in hand, I turned onto the road and saw a strange sight.  A woman walking in the pouring rain, wearing a black overcoat, sneakers and a hood.  From the back and side, there was nothing unusual.  But her face.

She was wearing a skull face covering her entire face. It was the kind you see in bad horror movies, like Scream, only a variant that was more realistic, less abstract.  It was the kind that are otherwise only spotted on or near October 31st.  Walking in the rain, a grown woman was dressed like this, she stopped at the bus stop. 

My mind scrolled through possible benevolent explanations.

1) She lost a bet she shouldn't have made.
2) This was a set up by some reality television exec. 
3) It's pouring, really pouring, and she grabbed a hood only to discover it was this, but it was better than getting soaked.
4) There is some flashmob zombie convention somewhere.
5) She works in a costume shop and was going home. She works in a costume shop and was trying to drum up business.

But the thoughts didn't mollify as I remembered, there is an abortuary near by where second trimester procedures take place.  I hoped the person wasn't affiliated with either the prayer vigil outside or the employees within, one would reveal a lack of charity, and the other, a chilled heart. 

Her "face" or the lack there of, took my mind off of all the amoxicillin I'd be forced to dish out over the next ten days.  It nagged at me though I sought out the radio, my children, anything to deter my brain from pondering how ragged a soul might possibly be to willingly don a mask of this nature.  I couldn't make those happy square peg thoughts fit in the round wounded hole I'd seen in that scene.  It seemed at best angry, at worst, mentally ill.

So I called my mom. 

She reminded me: the answer to everything, is when in doubt, pray. When you're frightened, pray.  When you're hurt, pray.  When you're angry, pray. When you don't know what you need, pray.  When you do, pray.

So I did.  But the woman stayed in my mind again today, so I prayed for her again today.  It still feels like not enough, like this woman, whoever she is, needs more. And what's more, I want to give this woman more. 

So I'm asking all of you, to pray:  That whatever it is, is made better.  That whatever it is, is healed.  That this woman walk the street, and we won't know it, but she will show her face. That would be a start.

If it was nothing, no harm will have been done.  If it is something, since we cannot know, we can do this. Maybe the world will feel a little less heavy today for that woman in the rain.  I hope so.