No one could blame you if you looked at the state of the world right now and felt a sense of despair. As if the pandemic weren’t bad enough, now the United States is in the grips of public outrage. Protests are growing and quite literally, parts of the country are on fire.
The Covid-19 pandemic still hangs over us and sadly, despite the warnings and guidance from legitimate medical and scientific experts, we have Americans and indeed, people all across the world, protesting the stay-at-home orders. Not satisfied with protesting those lockdown orders, even as they’re being lifted, many of those protesters are now causing civil unrest over the fact that they need to wear masks in public and continue to social distance. It makes you wonder, are they ever happy? Do they simply just “fight the system” just for the sake of it? Do they even care about others?
And as if all this wasn’t bad enough, we are now witnessing a large-scale social justice movement that has spilled out into our towns and cities. The catalyst was the murder of George Floyd, who was arrested in Minneapolis for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill in a convenience store. The latest development in that horrific story is that it wasn’t just Office Derek Chauvin who leaned his knee hard into George Floyd’s neck, but two of his fellow officers were also leaning on his body. As you know, George Floyed died as a result of this excessive force. The ensuing social outcry has quickly escalated and spread across the country, as many Americans protest another American citizen dying at the hands of the police — bear in mind, Mr. Floyd told them repeatedly he couldn’t breathe and Officer Chauvin refused to relent in his excessive and deadly force against this man.
Before I go on, I think its important to make something perfectly clear: I have a great deal of respect for our Police force and all first responders. However, never can we let that respect stand in the way of knowing right from wrong and those Police who engage in racial profiling or using excessive force against any American citizen, are most assuredly wrong. As a Christian, I will always try to fulfill our sacred obligation to cherish all life and to love and protect each other.
World on Fire
A friend of mine called me today and said “the whole world seems to be on fire.” He’s right, it does. The pandemic sill threatens us and now, we’re engulfed in increasingly violent civil unrest. I asked my friend how all of this made him feel and he said that he and his family feel alone and without any hope. Without any hope? That’s a very disturbing thing to hear, especially from a friend. We talked about it and he, like an increasing number of Americans, feel that our national leadership just doesn’t care. Our federally elected leadership failed to see the risk the Coronavirus posed, despite being forewarned. What’s worse, even when they knew how bad it was going to become, they downplayed it, with the President even calling it a “hoax” perpetuated by the opposing party. When great universities released studies and stats on the virus and made recommendations on how to best respond, president Trump, perhaps feeling the truth was somehow a bad thing, dismissed them as, and I quote “a political hit job.”
The United States, which is supposed to be the last sole remaining great superpower, was brought to its knees without a single shot being fired. We descended into chaos — we didn’t have the needed supplies and equipment, politicians contradicted medial experts and blamed administrations long out of office and worse, they gave no clear direction. The truth its, whether we like it or not, we were rudderless…plodding along with no cohesive strategy. I don’t know about you, but that to me is unacceptable.
To make matters even worse, we now have another Black American murdered at the hands of the very people who are sworn to protect and serve. His crime? George Floyd was accused of attempting to pay with a counterfeit $20 bill. That’s it. He didn’t go on a shooting spree. He didn’t rob a bank and shoot hostages. He didn’t plot with foreign terrorists. Nope…he simply and allegedly, tried to use fake money. And he died for that? This man was murdered by the police…for that? Anyone with an iota of compassion should be completely outraged.
We Stand Alone
Once again, our national leadership, which is supposed to be guided by the presidency, responded not with words of healing, but by pouring gasoline on the fire. The protests started out as mostly calm and somewhat restrained…until of course, the president threatened to call in the army, have them all arrested and possibly even more alarming, told his loyal supporters to come encircle the White House and engage in what can best be described as combat against American citizens.
The president faced swift, universal criticism when the made a veiled threat against the protesters, tweeting the incendiary phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Considering he had already threatened to break the constitution and call in the actual U.S. Army, is it any wonder why that tweet led to it being labeled by Twitter as inciting violence. Now of course, as we know factually, president Trump has done more threatening than healing. His focus was not so much on the protests that were engulfing many cities, but on his angry revenge against Twitter by enacting an executive order threatening all social media companies — and we wonder why people feel abandoned? The president of the United States is more concerned with getting revenge for what he considers an insult by Twitter, than he is at restoring peace and calm. In fact, he’d done anything but heal — whether like him or not, there is no denying that he has reacted more like a petulant dictator than the alleged “leader of the free world.”
Here are some of President Trump’s latest Tweets on this national tragedy:
- Great job last night at the White House by the U.S. @SecretService
They were not only totally professional, but very cool. I was inside, watched every move, and couldn’t have felt more safe. They let the “protesters” scream & rant as much as they wanted, but whenever someone got too frisky or out of line, they would quickly come down on them, hard – didn’t know what hit them. The front line was replaced with fresh agents, like magic. Big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least. Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action. “We put the young ones on the front line, sir, they love it, and good practice.” As you saw last night, they were very cool & very professional. Never let it get out of hand. Thank you! On the bad side, the D.C. Mayor, @MurielBowser who is always looking for money & help, wouldn’t let the D.C. Police get involved. “Not their job.” Nice!
- Get tough Democrat Mayors and Governors. These people are ANARCHISTS. Call in our National Guard NOW. The World is watching and laughing at you and Sleepy Joe. Is this what America wants? NO!!!
- Law & Order in Philadelphia, NOW! They are looting stores. Call in our great National Guard like they FINALLY did (thank you President Trump) last night in Minneapolis. Is this what voters want with Sleepy Joe? All Dems!
- The Lamestream Media is doing everything within their power to foment hatred and anarchy. As long as everybody understands what they are doing, that they are FAKE NEWS and truly bad people with a sick agenda, we can easily work through them to GREATNESS!
Adding more fuel to the fire, yesterday President Trump declared Antifa to be a terrorist organization, but despite being advised to do so, he failed to also declare the KKK and other organized white supremacist groups as the same. This refusal to do what is right is only making matters worse, especially since a majority of Americans feel that white supremacist’s groups are in fact, terrorists.
So, You Don’t Like Trump?
Do his Tweets and words make you feel safer or give you a sense of hope? Are they words of healing? Is he uniting, or is he dividing? I guess your conclusion all depends on you, doesn’t it? To assume I dislike him would be a mistake. As a Christian, I put my faith above politics in every instance. I don’t care whether you’re a Republican or Democrat — I care if you’re a reasonable, compassionate, intelligent leader. I want to know that you’re a healer, a uniter and a doer.
Instead, what millions of people are seeing, is a man who only cares about himself. Like the quintessential bully, he attacks and belittles. People are protesting because they’re angry that yet another American citizen has died because of police brutality and for Black Americans, that is something they feel happens far too often to Black men. Their anger, whether people want to admit it or not, is justified. Now you may not like the riots and destruction that is happening and neither do I. But perhaps we would not be seeing this escalation if we had national leadership that helped to cool things down, rather than intentionally heating them up.
Christians Are Told to Love One Another
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:34-35.
This to me is crystal clear. We are to always put love first and as we know, if we put love first, we’re putting kindness, compassion and understanding first as well, because they go hand-in-hand.
Proverbs 6:16-19: “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”
Romans 16:17: “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.”
Proverbs 26:20: “For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.”
What we need right now is healing and that comes from understanding. People are scared and unsure. The pandemic still hangs over us and in the U.S. alone, over 100,000 people have died from the illness. People have lost their jobs and families are struggling. We see an escalation in tensions with other nations and now, we have terrible strife and civil unrest at home. We don’t need threats or cruel words, we need compassion and guidance. A good leader knows when to attack and when to repair and restore. Ask yourself…what kind of leader do we have?
Political ideology should never take priority over morals — to know right from wrong and to speak up when we see injustice. If you’re a Christian, then above all, you know we are taught to always be kind, compassionate, truthful, thankful and merciful. If a person is of another faith or perhaps someone who has no particular belief in a higher power at all, it is still incumbent upon them to be good people and to do the right thing.
For right now, I hope and pray that in this nation and around the world, we start to see some much needed healing. That healing can only come if we look ourselves in the mirror and we answer the question “am I truly a good person who wants to see justice, kindness and fairness prevail?”
Also read: In Some Cities, Police Officers Joined Protesters Marching Against Brutality
“Kindness is universal. Sometimes being kind allows others to see the goodness in humanity through you. Always be kinder than necessary.” ―
