No Rest for the Wicked

The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
By understanding He established the heavens;
By His knowledge the depths were broken up,
And clouds drop down the dew.
My son, let them not depart from your eyes—
Keep sound wisdom and discretion;
- Proverbs 3:19-21 NIV

I am blessed to be participating in a Bible Study of Proverbs on-line with my friend Rose leading the discussion.  I love to learn from Rose because of her deep insight into the human condition and God, and her ability to draw out the experiences and wisdom from all the participants.  Proverbs is the Book of Wisdom in the Bible and it is especially relevant today.

Wisdom comes in two forms, knowledge and spirit both which are gifts from God.  Knowledge is obtained by studying the Bible and learning and practicing in our areas of expertise.  Knowledge is finite and therefore, contains boundaries and is based on conscious reasoning.  However, Spirit is based on intuition, which is infinite and within the unconscious.  Spirit is pure knowing without reasoning.  Spirit is based on love, and knowledge is based on the law defined as “a thing regarded as having the binding force or effect of a formal system of rules.”  If we are truly led by the Spirit which is based on love, then actions do not need to be prescribed on conscious reasoning or the law.

“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Galatians 5:18).  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”  (Galatians 5:22)

But of course, other than Jesus, can anyone say they are completely led by the Spirit?  So, we need to consciously study to change our behavior and that is why Proverbs is particularly powerful.  In Proverbs 3:19-26, "God warns us to keep sound wisdom and discretion; So, they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck.”   God is saying that when we act with love and wisdom, grace (or the favor) of God will be upon us.  Grace is God’s protection which is given to us when we walk with love and wisdom as Proverbs 3:23-26 states:

"Then you will walk safely in your way,
And your foot will not stumble.
When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.
Do not be afraid of sudden terror,
Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes;
For the Lord will be your confidence,
And will keep your foot from being caught."

In these verses, God is telling us even when we act with integrity and from love, the wicked can still attack, but as Rose says we can remain peaceful.  The strategy of acting from love will always prevail in the end because God is love, and love is the most powerful force in the Universe - “the Lord will be your confidence.”   This is because God is acting from the spirit or eternal, not the human and finite.

So many of us focus on our humanity and perceived mortality, that we fail to see the eternal or Kairos (God’s) time at work in our lives.  God’s will does not determine individual consequences on our lives, but rather is in the response.  To combat evil, we must respond with love knowing that God’s plan is infinite and eternal, not limited to our perceived existence as humans.   Working together in love with God’s grace and favor, righteousness or God's Kingdom will prevail on Earth as it is in Heaven.

As Proverbs 4: 14-19 says, the wicked who do not walk in the way of love and the Lord, live in constant agony and paranoia because they cannot sleep without fear. And when they are defeated, they never see that their own wickedness and evil led to their demise.

"Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
    or walk in the way of evildoers.
Avoid it, do not travel on it;
    turn from it and go on your way.
For they cannot rest until they do evil;
    they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
They eat the bread of wickedness
    and drink the wine of violence.
The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
    shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
    they do not know what makes them stumble."

"We Can't Breathe"

“Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.” – Herbert Hoover

Today I exchanged texts with my youngest niece who is 21 and is a junior at Texas State.  One of her black college friends, Justin Howell was critically injured by the Austin police when he was hit by a rubber bullet that fractured his skull.  My niece has a tender heart and is an amazing student leader, and I could tell this has shaken her to her core.  All I could say to her that I believed we are at a point of a breakthrough and that history shows that the violence of police and oppression against citizens especially blacks is not new.  I contributed to Justin’s go fund me page in response.  I vowed to myself to follow her lead in her Instagram post to “not let my foot off the pedal” in this fight against oppression and the right to assemble to make our grievances known.

Last Thursday night, I posted from my Twitter feed to my Facebook feed a video of thousands of protestors in Washington D.C. lying on their stomachs with their hands behind their backs as the sun was going down crying “I can’t breathe.”  These protestors weren’t solely making a statement on the murder of George Floyd or even the fact that a knee has been on the neck of blacks for four centuries keeping them “in their place.” It is a symbol of the economic inequity and authoritarian policies practiced by the United States government and the oligarchy that is a growing threat to our country.  It is not a coincidence that these peaceful protests include millions of young and old people, men and women of all races including whites.  And it is not a coincidence that the same protests are all over the United States and the World. 

On Wednesday, I had a Facebook exchange with another niece of mine about the Washington D.C. protest where Attorney General Barr ordered the clearing of a peaceful protest with weapons so that the President could walk to a church and hold up a Bible.  She said the press was not telling the whole story, that some of the protestors were violent and wouldn’t clear a path when directed to by the police. She referenced in her comments a statement by the White House Press Secretary.  My niece then said the police had a right to defend themselves.  I said the protestors, the journalists at the protest, journalists who investigated the facts and videos taken by the protests dispute the statements by the White House and Park Service Police.   I said to my niece the question is, “who do you believe?”  Given the daily stream of lies, calls for violence, vile comments, corruption and hate speech coming out of the President’s twitter feed and speeches as well as his administration, I believe the video evidence, the protestors and the journalists.  

Growing up in a military family I was taught self-discipline, respect for authority, and hard work.   I know that all leaders or positions of power are fallible, and a mark of good leader is to admit mistakes and then correct them.  But those in authority or positions of power, who fear loss of their power to minorities and women, often do not.  In the 1980s as part of the generation of women first entering auditing, I was pulled into a conference room without warning by the Director and Manager and presented with a piece of paper which told me  “to do exactly what I am told unless it is illegal, unethical or immoral." I was also told they were  "placing me on probation.”  This was despite my project evaluations praising me for my customer service and the fact the Director and Manager had not offered any examples of insubordination.  I had planned to leave the company because I was warned by male members of the department that I was “too talented for this company.”   I knew that this Director and the Manager had discriminated against, sexually propositioned, had affairs with, and had sexually assaulted women in the department.  After two internal investigations, the Personnel Communication Director who was a woman fought to get the director and manager fired but failed when overridden by the male Executive Management. I was told by Personnel Communications not to contest anything written about me or I would be deemed insubordinate and fired.  Eventually I was fired when I could no longer work under the stress in the department and I wrote in response to my last evaluation before going on sick leave, “If evaluations are to be given, I agree I am in need of improvement which is a continuous life long journey.  But I question the intent and it is vicious.”  The intent of the evaluation and the series of confrontations, in my opinion was to break my spirit.  Breaking the spirits of blacks, people of color, women and the white men who stand up against them, has too often been the intent of people in power.    

I have been studying American History with Dr. Heather Cox Richardson, a Harvard PhD and professor at Boston College courtesy of her Facebook feed.  A remarkable scholar and storyteller, she says throughout American History there has always been the fight over who is actually equal an an underlying premise that those who by virtue of having large sums of money believe they know what is best and therefore, should run the country for the benefit of all.  And under the original Constitution, women and slaves (blacks) were considered property.  This premise was contested by the original Republicans, who were once the party of Lincoln.  They believed that all men should have equal opportunity to contribute to our nation and that making money was not the most important factor  necessary to govern the country.  This seems to have been lost by the current Republican party who supports an autocratic President and corporate interests instead of the people.

I tell these stories because I know as individuals, we want to believe that our leaders and those in power can be trusted to be unbiased, fair, and working in our best interests, but in many cases they are not.  These protests are not just about the murder of one black man in a string of murders of blacks.  It is about breaking the spirit of blacks and those who challenge  authority.   There is a difference between the rule of law where the law applies to everyone including the President,  and the term law and order which subjugates those who protest and rebel against unequal treatment under the law by those in power.  

I will end with a conversation I had with my cousin in Seattle who is a retired nurse who has lived in Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon. In discussing the country, we quickly came to understand that our life experiences gave us different perspectives and that inequities stem often from different environments and require different solutions.  The problems in our country have to be solved at both the grassroots level and at the federal policy level and it will take a deep understanding of the human condition and behavior.  It will have to be based on shared goals and debates with diverse groups of people to develop solutions.  We will be imperfect, and we will have to keep reinventing and trying new solutions.  We will have to reevaluate everything fundamental to our government that contributes to policing, health,  environmental,  and economic disparities.  We need to stop breaking the spirit of people in our country and in our world, who cry out for justice, especially those who are black who have had a knee on their neck for four centuries.   

“We can’t breathe.”  

“There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance.”  - Walt Whitman

  

Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself

 “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” - Martin Luther King

Last night, after five days of feeling the anxiety in our nation, I took my nightly walk around my neighborhood waving to my neighbors as they worked in their yards and played with their children.  It was a surreal experience with all the videos and news of the riots and looting in cities across the nation.  Most of my neighbors are African Americans with other races mixed in including Asians, whites and Hispanics.   I am blessed because I feel wrapped in the presence and love of God in my neighborhood.  

It has been hard week because I have communicated with two of my nieces, who I love, who sometimes spread disinformation with their Facebook posts.  I suspect from their posts and comments, they are being fed information by trolls and others who inflame all our biases.  They classify news sources such as the New York Times and Washington Posts as biased and without facts.  At one point, one of my nieces said she realized I thought she was racist just because we held different viewpoints. She said she believed in the constitutional rights for everyone.  I said ignoring African American legitimate grievances, oppression and injustices because some were rioting (especially when we don’t know yet who is instigating the violence), never solves the underlying problem that caused the anger and unrest.

My niece also believes fraud can’t be prevented and detected when voting by mail.    She holds this position, without understanding all the controls that have been implemented to prevent mail voting fraud.  The fact is, most Americans don’t have the time or expertise to know all the controls, and this requires faith in our institutions, both political parties, and press to set up and monitor these controls.  Often, political arguments, such as turning out or suppressing the vote depending on our perception of the outcome, make us for and against something instead of evaluating the facts and the process to ensure that rights are protected for all Americans. 

Right now, we are in a crisis of faith and trust because of partisanship and misinformation.  It is critical that we trust other people and our institutions but verify the facts, for our society to function.  For me, every American should vote, and we should make it easy.  As members of our society we need to demand political, economic, and social systemic changes for all the underprivileged, especially for African Americans.  The fact is working class and middle-class whites are also experiencing growing wealth inequity and this is increasing tension and resentment and the recent economic and health crisis has accelerated it.   But real fundamental change will require out of the box thinking by a diverse group trying different solutions focused on long-term measurable goals.  The recent success of Space X shows a partnership between private industry and the government when focused on goals that benefit us all, can accomplish amazing things successfully.   We need to find a balance between our private, social, government, and corporate interests.

This leads me a discussion I had yesterday with a friend and her husband; we were talking about discrimination.  Her husband said he doesn’t believe that discrimination exists anymore because he said hasn’t personally seen it lately and asked us to give a personal example.  He said he believed the conflicts with blacks is really a problem with whether or not someone respects authority. My friend’s husband is a white male in his sixties.  My response to him was that we all exist in a bubble of our own personal experience that determines how perceive the world.  First, we must acknowledge and respect that other people have experiences different than ours, before we can make fundamental changes to the systems and attitudes underlying our society.

I told him of a recent PBS show I saw where two couples in their thirties, one white, one African American with a moderator discussed race.   When asked if discrimination was still present, the white couple said no.  They said they weren’t prejudiced, and they did not think it really exists now.  The African American man looked at them incredulously, and said angrily, “I have been pulled over by the police seven times.”  In our white “bubble,” if we get pulled over by the police, we didn’t follow the law.  In the black experience it is sometimes because they don’t fit the race profile in the neighborhood they are driving in and there is an underlying suspicion on the part of the police.  Unless you are a black man driving in a car every day who shares your experience with your black friends, you would not know this experience is more common amongst blacks.  Your experience as a white person is very different, because you don’t live every day in a black skin. 

Some whites observing the violence against George Floyd on the video or other instances of violence still assume that that the black must have resisted authority.  In a time of phone cameras, more violent acts are being questioned, but it still does not capture the systemic violence and discrimination.  Another recent example is that Ahmaud Arbery out jogging who was murdered by two white vigilantes in Georgia were only arrested several months later after a lawyer of the man following in a car filming the murder released the video.  For blacks, this is another act of violence accepted in four hundred years of ingrained slavery, oppression, and murder in our society.   We have made progress as I have experienced in my neighborhood, but we have a long way to go in our country.

At the end of all this, I am reminded how grateful I am for my neighbors, my friend and spiritual mother Ethel, and my close friends who are black.  My relationships with blacks have moved me and changed me in powerful ways.  My friend Ethel who passed away from cancer in 2007, showed me unconditional love and support.   And she gave it to me at risk to herself and her family if she had lost her job in the process of supporting my complaint of discrimination.  Ethel was the first person that truly modeled the love of God for me and shared her faith.  My experience with black women who are close to me is that their love and faith in God is unmatched.   I think this is due to the pain and suffering inflicted on them due to discrimination, suffering and abuse unique to black women.   Instead of harboring anger, they give their grief and pain to God and in return God loves them back and they feel peace and joy.  An example for us all.

My concluding thought is we need to create a society that works for all of us, because in the end all of us benefit.  We reap what we sow.  When we love others, we receive love back. 

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”