Disclaimer: I have tried to make my blog posts uncontroversial and full of God’s love. Though I will attempt to still display God’s love, but this post will be a little bit different. You may or may not agree with all the views I write on here, though I hope not to offend, as that is not my intention here. That’s OK. But I would ask that if you comment, that the comments be respectful and G-rated as possible, otherwise I will have to delete them. Thank you.
Many of you have heard the two black men-Alton Sterling and Philando Castile who were shot multiple times by police and the five white police officers in Dallas, Texas who were shot by a black man enraged by the treatment of his people by white police. Many of you are saddened and even possibly angered by these turn of events, me included. But these events are symptomatic of the greater problem of hate that fueled all these events.
What you don’t hear on the news, but whose plight should also get some voice is the millions of men and women of color who are disparaged by racist white men (not saying at all that all white men are racist, since many I have met don’t have a racist bone in their body) every single day, whether it is by teachers, police officers, or even the manager at work.
What you don’t hear on the news are the countless children and adults who are being bullied by their peers and authority figures because of not just the color of the skin, but because they are poor, are of a certain religion, are disabled, or identify as LGBTQ.
What you don’t hear is the countless people who are hurting- in physical or mental anguish, who feel that they must hide their true selves and be someone else to a world of people that not only won’t accept or love them as they are, but also whose selfishness, self-righteousness, and outright bigotry fuels in these hurting people unnecessary shame and anger welling up in them.
I know. I have been one of those hurting people. And I have been the world of people.
I have felt that I couldn’t be fully who I am to people, because sometimes when I have tried to be Real with people, it had only resulted in rejection or at the most polite platitudes that resembled only a little like true friendship. Even now, my identity is being stifled by my hands on the typewriter and fear that if x person or some phantom on the internet finds out who I am, I could be rejected by most everyone reading this here. It’s the bullies in the past that have projected this false idea. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate them, but just wanted to illustrate how bigotry and injustice could hurt and negatively shape someone.
Folks, we must cultivate a place in ourselves where we no longer let hatred, self-righteous pride or bigotry dictate how we are going to treat anyone. That includes me. That includes you. We must cultivate a place of grace, love and understanding. And we must not let hatred in any or all of its forms thrive in others, while we watch and do absolutely nothing. Even prayer or words of love and encouragement is much better than doing nothing. I remember Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men [or women] to do nothing.”
God's Whisperings 