Waiting out the firestorm while America goes for its kerosene cans and lighters. Some random thoughts:

It is striking to see the overwhelming need to comment about a senseless murder. We’ve all become content providers and there are no consumers left to think about each others’ thoughts. The one thing about tragic and unexpected loss is that the more you say to the sufferer the worse you make it. The less you say, the wiser you appear. If you are silent, you are kept from stupidity. If you post your opinions about it your foolishness can live eternally.

Much is being revealed. Mostly that there’s isn’t much to us. Our newsfeeds have already predetermined which toxins we see, thus confirming our worst fears and keeping us depressed and angry. We need to shut the web down for a week of silence to regain our collective minds. We’ve lost them to Silicon Valley.

Empathy is a survival mechanism, the first and deepest cord of love by which we learn. It begins the first time a baby smiles at its mother. People who are bereft of it are clinically known as sociopaths. We should all strive to have a little more of the former so we do not become the latter. Empathy is a very good thing. We’re going to need an IV to recover it.

Did anyone else think about the irony that Charlie Kirk’s murder devolved into a social media rage that made many of us miss remembering 9/11? Have we forgotten how to mourn, how it feels to be undone, broken, united in sorrow? How quickly we move on, where our raging carries us so that we no longer have to feel our common humanity any more.

A friend posted this one. “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” Hosea 8:7

During the pandemic, my next door neighbor was Mike Cooley of the Drive by Truckers. We socially distanced in my driveway and jammed with a friend or two who came by. One day we were talking about the hateful divisiveness of the time we’re in. He made an observation: “Someone said we’re in a cold Civil War. Looks like it’s heating’ up.”

You can’t have a Civil War or dance the tango without two. But usually one side or the other can come up with a reason why they they were forced to fire on Fort Sumter. A few weeks ago, I was privileged to hear Bryan Stevenson. During a dialogue time he observed, “The North won the Civil War but the South won the narrative.” And I have kept pondering that—the notion that this or that “other” is less human and doesn’t deserve as much respect, love, and opportunity as I do. If I wanted to dispute that I wouldn’t do it at this moment in the world.

My mind went to scripture, which I did post.

11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3-10

Lord, have mercy on us.