Something broke inside of me. It’s difficult to put into words. It’s like everything came shattering down. It was like watching a china plate fall to the floor and crumble into pieces, but it happened inside of me. Let me tell you what happened.
It probably helps for you to know that I follow the news closely, far more than most people. Any given day, I will review at least five major newspapers online as well as a news aggregator. I don’t pay much attention to the outrageous things the President does or says. I try to avoid pundits. Instead, I want to know about my community as well as events nationally and internationally. As I was reading the news the other day in the local paper, I saw a story that could have been from any day. But when I read it, something broke inside of me. I realized that we have failed horribly as a society.
The story was simple but tragic. On a hot summer day, some boys were selling bottled water at a busy intersection – and intersection I’ve driven through many times. Youth selling water common sight around Atlanta. A driver stopped and two boys approached the car, but one got there first. The driver took the water and gave the boy $10.00. The other boy left and got a gun. He shot the boy with the $10.00 – killing him for the money. Wow! A child gunning down another child at a busy intersection for $10.00. Incredible. You see: the problem isn’t the boys. Nor it is their parents. Instead, we as a society have failed our youth. Ours is a society in which gun violence has become so common that even kids kill each other.
As I thought about it, it made sense to me that a young person today would think that killing a friend is an acceptable response. Why wouldn’t it be? People today, including people in high office, talk opening about killing political opponents. (Where have I heard, “The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat?”) We have no respect for people with whom we don’t agree. We don’t even bother attempting to disagree in some intelligent way, stating an opposing position clearly or rationally. We simply assassinate the character of others, ruin their lives, or just go for blood. Add to this the repeated and documented abuse of ordinary people by the police and the way people are stuck in low-paying jobs unable to make ends me and it becomes clear: in America today, human life has little value. Respect and human decency are simply gone.
I read that news story and I thought, “We’ve gotten to the point that there’s no redemption for our society. We’ve sunk lower than low.” I felt a huge hole inside of me. This is not the kind of environment in which I want to live. It’s not just wrong. It’s diabolical. Our culture is simply dealing in death.
As I’ve sat with this feeling for the last few days, I’ve had to reaffirm something very basic: I have no control over anything in my life or the world. Control is an illusion. Events occur. Social narratives are inspired by public figures who can sway the thoughts and emotions of large groups of people. In that context, who am I?
Yet, I have a value system that matters to me. I may not be able to change anything, but for me to have integrity, which is important to me, I have to live out of my own values. I recognize that as a society we have failed. We have failed our youth by teaching them that violence is acceptable, that life is expendable, and that respecting other people is not meritorious. Yet, I can choose to live by my own values. I do value life: the lives of people and all forms of life on our planet. To the degree that I am able, I choose to act in ways that respect and support life. I believe that human beings have dignity and deserve respect simply because they are human beings. Their race, religion, gender, orientation, nationality, political views, or any other character does not make them less than people who should be treated with dignity or respect. Because I live in a culture and society that values violence and essentially believes that some people are better than others, I will strive to prevent these cultural values from polluting me in any way.
While we live in an era when politicians, pundits, and so-called religious leaders manipulate society with messages of fear and hatred, I do not have to buy into their values. I can choose to be counter-cultural. I can live in ways that defy cultural norms and treat others with respect. What would have thought the lessons taught to children in kindergarten would run against our cultural narrative? Yet, that is the state of American society today.
Photo by Eneida Nieves pexels.com
Lou, you articulate what I think many of us are experiencing–the breaking of our national and cultural spirit. Thank you for sharing your experience and helping to frame the only thing that we actually ever could control (though we always thought we had more control than that), namely, our own fidelity to our deepest personal values.
Bill: Thanks for the comment. I do think we’re living in a dark age. As I’ve considered “The Dark Ages” of Europe, what struck me was the number of mystics in that period whose writing continues to nurture people today. Indeed, we only ever have control of our fidelity to our values as you so aptly put, it strikes me that even in difficult times, when people are squeezed by circumstances, great profoundness can be a result. Thanks again. Lou