SMR Day Ten - Blessed Are the Peacemakers
Author’s note. I wrote this back in May shortly after the murder of George Floyd . I support protest as a means of holding our collective attention on injustice and the need to reform a system that’s been broken since the founding of our nation. While I believe the riots and destruction of property are wrong, I get while some people feel it’s the only way. The problem is, it doesn’t work because we reap what we sow.
Humility, recognition, cooperation and a collective commitment to justice do. It slow and messy and won’t make the news but it seems the only sensible way forward.
Now more than ever we need to manage our minds.
The Prophet Isaiah said of God: You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon You.
But the news...the riots...the tension....and global pandemic!
Remember, the purpose of the news is not just to inform you, it’s also to startle and scare you, so you keep watching. Manage your intake.
Yes. The riots and looting are wicked and they must stop. It is nothing but pain on pain and it won't work. Einstein said you cannot solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created it.
AND ... There are legions of people protesting peacefully, which is our right under the First Amendment.
AND ... Right now, there are people working for peace, justice, progress, and reconciliation, who will never make the news: Cops. Firemen. Pastors. Mothers. Shop owners. Accountants etc.
Blessed are they, Jesus said.
I met one of them this morning at the Graffiti Bridge - the epicenter for Pensacola's protests and vigils, which happens to be a block from my house.
Her name is Katie.
For the past two nights, she’s been camped out at the bridge under the image of George Floyd.
She’s there to stop people from defacing the mural.
“How do you do that,” I asked.
“I talk with them about it, explain what we’re trying to do. Then I ask for their story,” she said. “I understand why people are frustrated. I do.”
Her approach changed the mind of a guy with a spray can last night. He’ll paint the bridge another day.
Another one though, she missed and she was upset about it.
Katie is a white woman, probably in her late 20’s, if it matters.
She said the organizers of the nightly protests are inviting city officials into a conversation about a citizen’s oversight committee for local policing, use of excessive force, and a few other things.
There’s a meeting with the Mayor on Monday, she said.
Katie doesn’t agree with everything painted on the bridge, but she understands why it’s there.
She shows her solidarity by helping people feel heard through protest and street art.
After all, we can’t reconcile what we won’t recognize.