I was tempted to put this on Facebook, but I don’t think that’s what it should be used for, and I don’t think it’s effective anyway – far too easy to ignore people (friends!) with whom we disagree, when instead we should be engaging and empathizing with them.
That’s actually the key to all of this in my opinion: empathy. Christians have this one right, at least on paper, with the loving of neighbors and the motes and all that. Really, just about every religion and set of moral guidelines does. So if you see, hear, or read about the protests going on all across our country right now, I hope you make an attempt to see things from another perspective.
Just because you don’t understand the reason doesn’t mean there isn’t a reason.
The response to Darren Wilson’s non-indictment has taken many forms. Overwhelmingly, it has taken the form of nonviolent protests, violently broken up by militarized police. It has taken the form of property destruction, looting, and rioting. It has taken the form of knowingly racist invective. It has also taken the form of unknowingly racist rhetoric. If you believe that what’s happening right now, after another unarmed teenager is murdered with no consequences for the murderer, is just people doing what they naturally do, then your view of humanity is dim indeed.
It’s like that old chestnut: without God’s enforced morality, what’s to keep you from murdering and raping 24/7? Implicit in the question is the assumption that without God’s enforced morality, the asker would be murdering and raping 24/7!! The same logic applies to the Ferguson protests: if the protesters have simply found an ‘excuse’ to do what they do, then you have failed to empathize with them. You have implicitly stated that you are different from them – or possibly that you, too, are just looking for an excuse to break shit.
But you aren’t different from them in that way. You’re different from them in your circumstances, certainly! But not in your humanity. Just because you don’t understand the reason doesn’t mean there isn’t a reason! Empathize! We are all God’s children!