(Originally PuBlished 2020.06.08)
Note: The events mentioned in this bLOG sent me off on an odyssey I am still on. Here we sit almost four years later, and it is just as relevant today as it was then. Can we see the Imago Dei in others?
“New Glasses“
When I turned forty, someone turned off a switch; I had trouble reading without stretching my arms as long as possible. Over the next decade, I wore “cheaters” to read and eventually so that I could see other things (like road signs). My mind grew accustomed to not seeing all the details of life, and I assumed I could see enough.
Six months ago, I knew it was time. I went to the eye doctor, who told me I was lucky to get into my mid-50s before needing a prescription. He told me I needed trifocals: reading up close, working at the computer, and driving out in the world. I ordered the new glasses that revealed a whole new perspective for me. I can now see the details in the world better than I did seven months ago, seven years ago, and maybe even fourteen years ago. It’s not that I couldn’t see before, but outside assistance enhanced what I saw to pick up nuances and details I missed when I thought my vision was normal.
A few weeks ago, the world witnessed a recording of a horrible event of a man losing his life at the hands of another. The perpetrator of this crime was a man whom some of us were taught to trust, and some were taught to fear (which should tell us something). This incident created such a convulsion in society as centuries of frustration and anger erupted onto the streets. Sadly, these peaceful demonstrations also brought out anarchists, opportunists, supremacists, and partisans, fueling the fire of a broken system.
Many good people have, over many decades (and centuries), tried to fix inequality’s brokenness with cries for equality and equity. As well-meaning as these people and their actions were, the root of the problem is systemic, and it still exists today.
Maybe this time, things will be different. Perhaps enough people will stop and think about what we are seeing. I’m not talking about the bad players in this situation, but the voice of a people who have been silent for too long needs to peacefully stand up next to those who have struggled for so long and say, “No more!” Maybe this is the time that provides us with the lenses to see details up close, in our immediate surroundings, and beyond ourselves—a new pair of glasses.
Below is an excellent illustration of our history with the issue of inequality. I provide it to make us think about the failures on all sides (depicted in the first three solutions) to achieve what we all believe is a fundamental right of every human being (the last). This bLOG is not a political statement; it is reality.
As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me. As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.
(Matthew 25:40, 45)
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