Our denial and our inability to see have more to do with matters of the heart than the looming pandemic that threatens our physical health. What we choose not to see has the potential to be far more deadly and destructive. Fortunately, there is a vaccine of sorts and the antidote is ours for the asking. It is a gift that comes from God.
I suspect that the nation will survive the coronavirus. The odds aren’t that good that the nation will fare as well with matters of the heart. This week’s headline news weighs on my heart in a way that most reports do not. It is beyond my comprehension or understanding. What is to become of us?
Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying: “A nation divided cannot stand”. Perhaps he had it on good authority. Christ said: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand”[Matthew 12:25].
In 1965, Billy Graham wrote a book entitled World Aflame. He said this, “Our world is on fire, and man without God will never be able to control the flames. The demons of hell have been let loose. The fires of passion, greed, hate, and lust are sweeping the world. We seem to be plunging madly toward Armageddon”.
Not long before Mr. Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in 1961, Billy Graham visited with him in his office at the United Nations. He seemed deeply depressed during our conversation. Looking from his window across New York he said quietly: “I see no hope for permanent world peace. We have tried so hard and we have failed so miserably.” Then he paused a moment, looked at me, and said: “Unless the world has a spiritual rebirth within the next few years, civilization is doomed.”
We have sown to the wind and we have reaped the whirlwind. The destructive face of hatred manifesting itself in the most egregious and inhumane treatment possible has become an all to often event.
Reportedly, the official police report related to the death of Floyd George, a forty-six-year-old African American read: “…After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance.”
Omitted from the report was a scene recorded by a bystander: “a Minneapolis police officer keeps his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for eight minutes,during which the unarmed man repeatedly cried out, “I can’t breathe!”
“Please, please, I can’t breathe. Please, man, please,” Mr. Floyd said to the officer. “I can’t move. Everything hurts. Give me some water or something, please. I can’t breathe, officer.” As the officer continued to crush his neck with his knee, Mr. Floyd added, “They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me, man.” An ambulance then took Mr. Floyd to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
National news of George’s death follows similar tragic news of the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, a twenty-five-year old African American who was killed in the port city of Brunswick, Georgia on February 23rd. Reportedly, the victim was jogging in the assailants neighborhood and they hunted him down and killed him. It was two months before the father and son responsible for the death, were arrested.
Outcries of wrong doing have been used by folks outraged by the deaths to justify protests and violence across the nation in at least 30 localities. The level of violence and wrong-doing that has escalated from protest is another sad indictment that two wrongs don’t make a right.
I, too, am outraged by the deaths. If we don’t find a way to stop it, we are signing away our future. A nation divided cannot stand.
All My Best!
Don