Okay, time for a serious blog. If anyone has been paying attention to the news then they’ve probably heard about Jean Charles de Menezes and I don’t know about you but it’s a little freak to me.
The basic jist is that Friday London police chased a guy in the subway, he tripped and fell and they shot him five times, dead. Already I was a concerned because it sounded like marshall law, it seemed like they could have apprehended him without shooting him, I mean he tripped and fell, some witnesses said they had pinned him down when they shot him.
Now we find out that he had nothing to do with any of the bombings.
Does this disturb anyone? We are becoming so scared of dying that we are killing ourselves trying to stop those who might kill us.
My friend Karma is an anarchist. She was anti-war like me, but she was anti-policemen and stuff too. I figured it made sense to have people keep the peace, but she felt that when you give people power they often abuse it. She has plenty of examples on her side, police beatings, racial profiling, Jim Crow, Rodney King, riot cops at the FTA and WTO protest, the list goes on.
Now I’m starting to agree with her. I mean what happened to being a community that watched out for one another? What would a city without police look like? Would we all feel more responsible for caring for each other in our community? Would we make it a point to know all our neighbors?
Or would we all carry guns and triple lock our doors and just watch out for “our own”?
I hope everyone is thinking about this. I mean the police chief actually said there might be people shot while looking for suicide bombers. And what about racial profiling on top of that?
Lord what is this world coming to?
Ariah,
I hadn’t heard about that at all. That is so sad. And you’re right, the question is: what/how can we change or impact society around us to reflect love and not fear?
I think the idea of community, caring for each other’s needs, is noble and I want to be a part of a community that stands out and actually does that…I believe it is possible. Or do I? I have to admit that I am skeptical, as you might have been able to tell from the way I wrote the previous sentence. I think that people without God and Christ in their lives would be ruled by fear rather than love. I know that movies do not necessarily reflect real life, but I thought one of the most powerful scenes in WAR OF THE WORLDS (the one with Tom Cruz trying to drive his mini-van through a town full of people)was one that showed how people that are afraid do not often seek to care for others, they look out for themselves…to the point of insanity.
I was just reading in First Corinthians about how the wisdom of God is not understood by the “rulers of this age” and that the ultimate truth and wisdom of Christ is foolishness to those that do not have the Spirit of God.
But it also says that God was well pleased that through the “foolishness” of the message to save those who would believe. So how do we get people to go along with this foolish, “unwise” idea of caring for each other?
I could go on writing and writing…but this isn’t even answering your question and it is bringing up a more philosophical “big picture” question that was only partly related to what you wrote. I have to go back to work now…but I do pray and ask the Lord the same question you did: Lord, what is this world coming to?
it’s martial law, you idiot. the man was wearing a heavy coat as he exited a suspicious building; he jumped the turnstile and ran towards the subway car, as 10 plain clothes policemen with guns drawn chased him.
he tripped and fell into the subway car. if he had a bomb, everyone around him who had “apprehended” him would be dead. your nonsense about communities sounds so antiquarian that it is sadly pathetic.