Baltimore and the Brushes

Darren’s weekly musings

April 26^th-May 2^nd

Standing up for good

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." - Albert Einstein

Like many of you, I have watched the riots that are taking place in Baltimore this week.  But I think missed in the news of the week were the stories of two homeless men who were brutally murdered in Winnipeg.  Their only crime was that they were homeless.  The killer seemed to think it was fine to kill these folks because they lived on the street.  The killer did not find worth in their lives.

A few weeks back we heard about the murders of university students in Kenya.  Gunmen went through the university and killed any student who could not recite verses of the Qu’ran.  The dead students, almost all of them Christian, were felt to be expendable by the extremists.

The women who went missing on Robert Picton’s pig farm in BC were someone’s child, sister, wife or mother.  They were targeted by Picton because they were poor and worked on the streets.  Picton took advantage of their vulnerabilities and murdered them because he thought they were without value.

Many people, people who I would call judgers, place values on others because of their ethnicity.  In this way of thinking a Cambodian might be more important than a Peruvian.  Some judgers place values on race.  Some judgers place values on a person’s gender or sexual orientation. Judgers see certain jobs and professions are valued while other jobs are vilified.  Other judgers value the opinions of those who dress to certain norms all the while disregarding the opinions of those who dress alternatively.   For these judgers there is a certain pecking order and everyone is pegged their place by whatever prejudice the judger uses.  This way of thinking to me is wrong.  It is evil.  It is meant to bring disharmony to the world and not unity.

The other night, I watched some of the local Baltimore tv newscasts on line as they reported on the riots.  One newscaster was quick to condemn all of the rioters as criminals who were intent to destroy his city.  He too was a judger, tarring all people with the same brush.  However another newscaster quickly jumped in.  He said that yes a few of the protestors were only there to commit mischief for mischief’s sake.  But many of the people out there were protesting peacefully.  Many were concerned about police relations with the black community.  Many loved their city.  The other announcer was the voice of reason in the midst of hate.  May we all come to realize that we are not just homogenized parts of the groups we belong to  but that each person is to be valued and loved for who they are.  Blessings.