This was the text I woke up to this morning from one of my adult children. As a mother I thought, "Uh Oh what is going on?" and responded concerned, but as a Christian, with unspoken words, thought, "I sure hope so". With all that has been going on lately in the world and here in the United States, it seems that it is getting worse and harder to find peace here on Earth.
I had high hopes for 2020 and just as we were settling into the new year panic began to build all around us as we were first faced with the COVID-19 pandemic. It was unsettling finding out the entire world was facing an outbreak of the newest superbug. The world was shutting down, businesses closing, people losing their jobs, education institutes closing, hospitals overwhelmed, and sadly thousands upon thousands of people dying all over the world. I don't know how the term "social distancing" affected you, but for me, it shook me to the core. Don't get me wrong, I understand why it was deemed necessary, but I did not think isolation and loss of physical connection with other humans was a good idea. There is nothing that negatively emotionally charges humanity like telling us we cannot do something. Reports of increased suicide and domestic violence worldwide rose while the coronavirus has claimed over 400,000 lives. One might wonder what else can go wrong?
Just as we are coming out of the coronavirus pandemic and start to get back to "normal" we are faced with even more senseless death by the hands of those who took an oath to serve and protect. Although there have been some changes made in law enforcement over the past decade, still much is needed. Although we don't want to hear and see a police officer taking the life of a citizen, black or white, the reality is that since 2014 hate crimes continue to increase annually in the United States. We cannot blame that on law enforcement especially when the ratio is 1/over 300,000 people in the U.S. We want to see changes in how people of color are treated by law enforcement, but the real and lasting change has to happen in all humanity. We as a people have to forget all that we have been taught and experienced over the last century and stop seeing one another as anything other than human. Stop judging others based on the actions of the few. Love and acceptance will never win as long as we constantly make life about our differences. Red, yellow, black, or white, we are all just human. Each and every one of us has to stop perpetuating hate by our actions allowing the actions of our brothers and sisters who need reminding that the color of our skin does not change the fact that we are ALL human. I am afraid that the only way this racial division will end is if the next pandemic causes blindness in anyone that harvests hate in their heart and/or mind or if the world was ending.
This was the text I woke up to this morning from one of my adult children. As a mother I thought, "Uh Oh what is going on?" and responded concerned, but as a Christian, with unspoken words, thought, "I sure hope so". With all that has been going on lately in the world and here in the United States, it seems that it is getting worse and harder to find peace here on Earth.
I had high hopes for 2020 and just as we were settling into the new year panic began to build all around us as we were first faced with the COVID-19 pandemic. It was unsettling finding out the entire world was facing an outbreak of the newest superbug. The world was shutting down, businesses closing, people losing their jobs, education institutes closing, hospitals overwhelmed, and sadly thousands upon thousands of people dying all over the world. I don't know how the term "social distancing" affected you, but for me, it shook me to the core. Don't get me wrong, I understand why it was deemed necessary, but I did not think isolation and loss of physical connection with other humans was a good idea. There is nothing that negatively emotionally charges humanity like telling us we cannot do something. Reports of increased suicide and domestic violence worldwide rose while the coronavirus has claimed over 400,000 lives. One might wonder what else can go wrong?
