In a society that loves to yell and postulate and demonize so that whatever self-righteous cause they espouse can be hammered into mindless sensibilities, these are two of the most thoughtful pieces I have read this week.
Why Is the Flag Still There? from The Atlantic
The Almost Alternate Ending in Charleston John Ortberg in Christianity Today
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Thank you for sharing the articles. Definitely good read. Wonder how the new election is going to change things around.
The fact of inequality is noticed only when that inequality favors someone else.
Why it’s so important to put ourselves in another’s shoes and ask, “How would I like to be treated if I were them?” If we do not do that, it is very easy to simply deny inequality, because we never allow ourselves to truly put the spotlight on it. Denial is easy in darkness.
Great observation Bill.
Ben, thanks for sharing these two articles. One of the positives coming from this horrible tragedy and one that Dylan Roof certainly didn’t take into account, is the coming together of the black and white citizens of Charleston and the Nation in mourning those lost. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to mobilize public opinion, and I pray that this horrible act has that lasting effect.
The United States history has changed in the last 40 years. The civil war was about tariffs. Now that my kids are in school history changed and the civil war is now only about slavery. Not total slavery, but the slavery of blacks only. I don’t get it. There were Irish and Scottish slaves as well, but you don’t hear about them. Irish, Indians and Germans were all told they couldn’t eat in a restaurant or enter a building because of where they came from. They all overcame the way they were treated. That kid has heard repeatedly about the terrorism (let’s call it what it is) that happened in Ferguson. That terrorism was acted out all over the United States. This kid sees what is happening and formed the opinion that all blacks are bad. What did anyone expect would happen? What kind of picture does that kid have about blacks – the one where they terrorize whites and burn up buildings, When I was younger I was the only white kid in my class. I was tormented and told by the blacks that they were going to kill me (continually every day) because I was white. I moved somewhere that the blacks were actually nice so my opinion changed and I realized that people aren’t the color of their skin. You don’t know that this kid wasn’t terrorized by black people where he lived and took it out on the wrong people. We will never know all the reasons this kid formed his opinions and chose those actions. One white kid shoots some black people and its racist. But the black guy that shot up the fast food restaurant wasn’t considered racist. The black guy that shot up that kids restaurant wasn’t called a racist. Where was the ACLU then? Why is there a double standard? Do whites riot every time a black person kills a white person? No. We act responsibly and let the courts take care of it. I’m tired of the terrorist tactics every time a certain “race” doesn’t like what happens in this country.