Monday, July 7, 2014

The Day My Heart Sank, Delivered July 5, 2014

            It was nice having a week off.   I took what is, in the new lingo of our post-2008 depression era, a “stay-cation.”  Instead of biking though the hills of California’s wine country, the back roads of Vermont, or some other yet for me to explore area, I invested in some home projects and kept the biking local.  Mind you, I got in some quality biking logging well over 100 miles, spending most of my week covered in sweat, road grit, and trail dust and nurturing a nerdy cyclist’s tan that is sadly already fading due to too many hours indoors.  It was a bit of nirvana.  Then, I had to come back to reality on Monday.
            Monday.  It was definitely a day I wish I could have remained blissfully on my bike riding through the valley far away from the news headlines that came across the airwaves and the internet throughout the day.    If only I could have extended my “stay-cation” a few days longer.  If only ignoring the news could make it go away.   
            Monday.  Our nation’s supreme court ruled in favor of “closely held” corporations, such as Hobby Lobby, which desire to limit health insurance coverage benefits because said benefits, which, by the way, solely impact women's health coverage, could possibly challenge the CEO’s religious beliefs.
            Monday.  The Jewish community received confirmation of what we didn’t want to say aloud but what so many of us sadly expected.  The bodies of Naftali Fraenkel, Eyal Yifrach, and Gilad Shaar, the three yeshiva students  kidnapped in the West Bank a few weeks ago were found in Hebron showing evidence of a triple homicide at the hands of members of Hamas.
            Monday.   It was a depressing day.  My heart sank twice.   I hope yours did too.
            These headlines may seem unrelated.  How dare I compare the brutal deaths of three young men to the now legally supported refusal to provide complete health care to women?  But both of these stories reveal the worst of humanity.  Both reveal our capacity to hold ever so tightly to our own belief systems that we are willing to do serious damage to other members of the human race.   Both stories give evidence of our inherent short-sightedness.   Why are we as a species so unwilling to see and respect those who may believe differently from us?  Why must we resort to tactics that physically harm others, or have the potential to put others in harms way, in our desire to be proven right?   Why can’t we be open to another’s narrative?
The immediate impulse for revenge that is currently waving through the Jewish community worldwide underscores this base tragic flaw of humanity.   How many Facebook posts did you see among your Jewish friends regarding the murder of the three Jewish teens?  I saw plenty.  How many posts did you see from these same Jewish friends about the equally tragic murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a young Arab studying to be an electrician like his father?  I saw only one.   So, I shared it.  And, when I did so, I immediately received a message scolding me for not highlighting the Jewish deaths over and above the Arab one.   
Really?  Is that what we’ve been reduced to: a tit for tat tally of death?
The conflict is loaded with hatred – plenty on both sides, but let’s be cognizant of one important bottom line.  Hate and vengeance expressed with violence and murder is wrong.  Rachel Fraenkel, the mother of Naftali, one of the three kidnapped and murdered teens found in Hebron, reminds us in her response to death of Mohammed Abu Khdeir “…there is no difference between blood and blood.”   We should be equally, if not more outraged if we confirm his death was by Jewish hands.
            Monday.  It was a difficult day.  I’m pained that Israel can’t find its way to a peaceful resolution to an ongoing conflict between two sides neither of which seem to be able to hear or respect the other long enough to make real progress.  I’m pained that in our own country, after living through a powerful feminist movement that expanded women’s rights, I am now living through a time when those rights are being chipped away by a group of white, Catholic men who fail to see the needs of someone other than themselves. 
            I’m pained by the use of religion, theology - things that are matters of faith -- as tools to do harm to others.   What happened to the prophetic impulse to use faith as a tool for acting justly and for forwarding God as a motivation for valuing kindness and humility?   Micah would be entirely disappointed in humanity today.  I must agree with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg,  “I fear [we have] ventured into a minefield.”



No comments:

Post a Comment