IN THESE TIMES, WE NEED PERSPECTIVE

We need to see a bigger picture.  Our focus during this turbulent time is narrowed by the scope of the news headlines.  These events are real and unspeakable.  But they are not the whole story.  Not by a long shot.   Not even the biggest part of it.

A white policeman uses undue force to unjustifiably shoot and kill a black victim.  But that’s not who white policemen are.  A black man filled with hate murders five white policemen, but that’s not who black people are.

More than ever, we need perspective.  In our mind we need to see millions of black men and women working so hard to provide for their families and raising their children to be God-fearing, law abiding citizens.  We need to see thousands of courageous, professional, moral policemen protecting the black community from harm every day at the risk of their own lives.  We need to envision millions of people of all colors functioning together in the workplace, supporting each other as a team every day.  We need to see into thousands of bi-racial churches where those of any race lift up the same God and try to be the face of Jesus to each other, regardless of what they look like.

These events are also real.  Every day.  That’s the perspective we need to hold on to.  That’s how we will make this better.  Marches in the streets?  Okay, but do they really make a difference?  All too often they actually serve to spawn more violence.

Black lives matter.  Blue lives matter.  I refuse to pick a color.  I refuse to let the escalation of the rhetoric force me to choose a side.  I choose love.  I choose not to fear those who do not look like me, and to act in such a way that they don’t have to fear me.  If we get that simple thing done, there will be no need for marches.  This needs to get done, live, in person, one on one every day…..

……and that will require the right perspective.