Today's Scripture Reading (October 8, 2022): Psalm 72
(Warning - what follows is my personal
opinion borne out of being tired of seeing news reports about gun violence. It
is a reprint of a blog I wrote on July 25, 2016, but it still feels culturally
relevant six years later. Please don't take this as a condemnation of anyone,
but rather as a confession regarding what I think is the most important thing
in our culture; our lives. Please take it as you will.)
In a current news report about the
frequent police shootings we have been experiencing in recent years, one expert
laid the blame squarely on the shoulders of the way that we train and do our
policing. Long gone is the era of the neighborhood cop who lived in the
community and got to know the people. I spent my High School years living in a
small, rural town and felt like I knew the police officers who served the town.
We saw them at local sports events, the coffee shop, and other events. We knew
their names and recognized them even when they weren't in uniform. And, often,
they knew ours. Today, our police officers are usually trained with more of an "us
vs. them" attitude. The police enter their shifts like a combat squad sent
into the danger zone. After spending time in the danger zone, they get to go
home to their "safe" neighborhoods. The result would seem to be a police
force trained for and even expecting violence. There is no doubt that some
situations are combat; I get that. But every circumstance does not require the same
ingrained combat attitude. Changing the way that we do policing is a must.
But, on the other side of the coin, I
also have a huge problem with our gun-crazed society. I am tired of hearing
that guns don't kill people; people kill people. It just isn't true. I can run
from someone with a knife or a baseball bat. At least then, I have a chance. A
gun takes that chance away. The truth is that if you have a gun, you have the
potential to kill. And unfortunately, panic and fear will result in a "shoot
first, keep yourself safe so you can go home after your shift and figure everything
else out later" attitude. Add into that a racially charged environment,
and all of this shifts in a negative direction exponentially. You have a gun,
great. Lock it in a lockbox in your trunk when you are driving. If you have a
concealed carry permit, only carry when you are actively engaged in the reason
you obtained the concealed carry permit in the first place. Carrying a gun to
go grocery shopping only seems to be inviting trouble, whether or not you have
a permit. Under no circumstances should we give a scared out-of-his-mind police
officer with the wrong training an excuse to shoot us. You will win the court
case in the end, but most likely, you will still be dead. And I do not believe
that any court ruling is worth your life.
King Solomon writes this prayer, and the
prayer is directed toward whoever it might be sitting on the throne of the
nation. In the ancient world, if there was anyone who had to "parachute in"
to a neighborhood, it was the king. He lived a life separated from his people's
day-to-day existence. The king lived separately; he enjoyed privileges that no
one else enjoyed. And he could essentially take a life without accountability,
another problem we seem to be experiencing with the recent police shootings.
The truth is there have been many kings and dictators throughout history who
have done precisely that; killing someone based on a whim instead of need. If
anyone needed wisdom and understanding, it was the king.
So, Solomon asks God for wisdom. He
wants to judge in righteousness, not just what is right for himself, as he
lives in his protected and safe environment. Solomon desires the will to do
right for those who do not live in his protected environment. He wishes to
react with justice toward those who have to go through life experiencing
injustices that he will never know. All this is important to him, so he asks
God for this kind of wise judgment.
Maybe this is the same prayer we must
pray over our police officers. Every day we place our lives in their hands. We
need them to understand us, our problems and struggles, and our concerns and
fears as they parachute from their safe neighborhoods into the places where we
live. They need to do what is right and just so that we can prosper in the areas
where we live.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 132
No comments:
Post a Comment