In the last week, I have tried to sit down and write about what is happening in the world repeatedly, but I have been unable to put together anything of substance. I have found it nearly impossible to put into words all that has been on my mind.
I am not usually a sentimental person. Growing up my siblings often joked that I might be a robot. In college, my college roommate gave me a t-shirt with this message (from an xkcd comic):
I probably should have been offended, but I agreed that it was accurate and I proudly wear the shirt to this day. (I can neither confirm nor deny wearing that shirt on the day that I asked my wife out for the first time.)
I tend to be very analytical and I am more comfortable with detached rationality than raw emotion. Compartmentalization comes quite naturally to me. When I watch a sad movie or a tragic story on the news, I am rarely moved by it. Over the last few months, however, I have found it increasingly difficult to keep it together while reading and watching news about what is going on in the US and around the world.
First there was the coronavirus. The death toll continues to creep upward in the US even as the specter of a possible second wave looms. The economic fallout has been devastating as well. Although my family has largely been spared, I know a number of people who have lost friends and loved ones to the virus and many others who have faced financial struggles as a result of the crisis. Meanwhile in other parts of the world, the pandemic is still in its early stages. The number of documented cases in my former home of Peru is over 160k and rising rapidly. Knowing the infrastructure in many parts of the country, I suspect the true toll has been significantly higher.
All of this death and suffering is troubling, but the way that people have responded is also worrisome. Instead of banding together to face a common enemy, we are more divided than ever before. It feels like society has split into two camps with one side focused exclusively on stopping the spread of the virus and the other on fixing the economy with little room for a middle ground. In recent months I have seen friends on both sides compare each other to Nazis. I have seen the act of wearing or not wearing a mask turn into a political statement that has led to multiple violent and even lethal confrontations.
As if the novel coronavirus wasn’t enough, we were recently given yet another reminder of the unresolved issues of racism and police brutality. Like many of you, I watched the video of George Floyd’s arrest and death and couldn’t help but exclaim “No! Not again!” I don’t know how anyone could watch the video and come away with anything other than a sense of outrage and the conclusion that you had just witnessed the brutal murder of a defenseless man by men whose very job is to protect. Unfortunately, this was no isolated incident. We have seen this same scenario of African Americans dying at the hand of the white police officers play out over and over again and far too often, there is no justice, at least not until there is a public outcry. Sadly, the protests driven by well-placed outrage over Floyd’s death have now turned violent and fires burn in cities around the country. There have been glimpses of solidarity and attempts at reconciliation, but if my social media feeds are any indication, then many of us still prefer to defend one side while demonizing the other instead of genuinely grappling with the very real issues.
All of these horrific situations reveal the deep-seated divisions in our country. In so many of these conflicts, both sides view the other, not as neighbors, but as enemies. In this climate, there is no room for respectful disagreement or reasonable debate. We are all too eager to shout at each other instead of being willing to listen to the genuine concerns of others. We believe that people disagree with us, not because they started from different assumptions or because they are misguided or misinformed, but because they are downright evil. When that is our perspective, it is no surprise that mutual respect is out and “trolling”, “triggering” and “owning” opponents (or worse) are in.
To make matters worse, it is now easy to opt out of hearing from opposing perspectives with the click of button. Our media sources present radically different versions of reality, and we have the option of choosing the one that fits our point of view. We are free to hoard all the evidence that supports our perspective and ignore everything that does not. One side’s facts are the other side’s hoax. In this environment, confirmation bias reigns supreme. When we are presented with an argument that doesn’t match up with our beliefs, we can now dismiss it with two words: “fake news”. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find common ground when talking about our differences. How can we have a productive conversation when we don’t even have the same facts?
This new normal raises so many questions. How did we get here? How did things get so bad? What does this all mean? What should we do in response to this mess? What if anything can be done to fix it? And how can we cope? I wish I knew the answers, but sadly, I am just as confused and frustrated as many of you are. Math and science are powerful tools for making sense of our reality, but there are some questions that they cannot answer. As my t-shirt says, there are some situations where “my normal approach is useless”.
In times like these, the only thing that I can cling to is my faith in God and in his word, which teaches that every human life has value because
“God created man in his own image.” (Genesis 1:27)
The Bible instructs us on how to treat one another saying:
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3-4)
Passages like this one give us no room for treating even our enemies with disdain. Instead the call is to love our neighbors, even the ones that we disagree with.
That seems difficult, impossible even, especially in trying times like these, but that is precisely what the world needs right now. If we actually lived this out, we would not be in this mess. Thankfully, God doesn’t just give us commands, he is also both the source of love and the perfect example of it:
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters…Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.” (1 John 3:16, 1 John 4:7)
Now, I know that reciting platitudes, even ones from the Bible, will not magically fix the problems in our society. But sometimes, I need a reminder of about things that are true and right and good, especially when I find myself filled with anxiety and anger. And sometimes, putting these thoughts on paper helps. I know that this post was a departure from my usual fare, but it was something I needed to write to process everything that is going on and as a reminder to myself. I debated whether it was even worth sharing, but I am posting it now in the hope that there is someone else out there who might benefit from this reminder.