We’re riled up as a country.
If you open social media or the news it causes unsettling flashbacks to people during the 2016 presidential election. There’s strangers sharing various opinions on YouTube, comments slandering the president, articles of the president bashing football players, friends tearing the other a part for not thinking the same as them, people shouting “free speech!”, others yelling “respect!”, and former presidents are still being compared to the present one.
If you’re waiting for me to share my side whether for or against the national anthem protests then you will be disappointed and will find juicier words on the social media feeds. I’d also rather not invite more hateful comments towards the current national news.
It’s war again. The one that is never ending and honestly won’t truly end until the world sees the face of Christ return. It’s a war over the infiltrating pain in this world and the brokenness that is desperate for healing.That’s what I’m reminded of once again as anger is palpable in the United States causing more splits and division.
I’m reminded that myself and this country should take a knee too.
Take a knee and pray.
Take a knee and humble yourself.
Take a knee and find understanding.
If you removed all the circumstances, you will find groups of individuals longing for others that are shouting at them to simply become quiet so they can be heard – truly listened to – for longer than a moment.
There’s no right or wrong side about this. Yet there is the human desire for another fellow human being to have awareness of how there is hurt at play towards them on deeper levels than football and flags. Americans are either standing or kneeling because of their own pain or on behalf of another being treated wrongly.
“My family experiences racist comments daily in this country. I want awareness, I want change, I want people to care. It hurts us when we feel hate and unwelcome in a country proclaiming freedom and equality.”
“My husband and billions of others died at battle for you in this country and had that flag you refuse to stand to patched on their uniform when they were shot. He died so you can live. It hurts when you don’t stand.”
I can’t say I know these people’s pain but I can surely listen. I can choose not to contribute to harming them. I can choose not to act in a way that questions their inherent value or that who they are or what they’ve done doesn’t matter.
I also pray I can find empathy to understand why they may be enraged, relentless, and in their own kind of pain. This warring of sides and pain will manifest itself again in a different way and new situation. I hope to do the same in all future situations instead of clinging to my first reaction or my first personal feeling.
We all want the same thing.
We long for a healed and whole America where there is truly justice and freedom for all men and women that are citizens in our states. We want to be genuinely proud of where we live. Is this not why most of us are fighting each other? We need to remember this otherwise we will continue causing more social eruptions and more fault lines that destroy a nation.
When I leave the US soon, there will be chaos and pain also in other countries I walk into that influences their words and actions towards each other. Everything I mentioned I still need to remember when traveling overseas.
That our pride and selfishness always wrecks our souls and our relationships with others. Pain can stir anger and birth hate and cruelty. Brokenness is a world wide epidemic. And I again should remember,
Take a knee and pray.
Take a knee and humble yourself.
Take a knee and find understanding.
Photo cred: Ashley Francis. Taken at training of October ’17 teams. Prayer after baptisms.
