“America’s greatest contribution to the world is its concept of democracy, its concept of freedom, freedom of action, freedom of speech, and freedom of thought.” ~ Benazir Bhutto.

Although I was old enough, I cannot say I remember where I was when Kennedy was killed.  Our family had just moved to Jamaica, and I imagine we were still in the unpacking mode, and attempting to get used to the change in climate, scenery, environment, culture, you name it.  We did not have a television (in fact, we didn’t get one until seven years later!) so we got our news from the radio and the Daily Gleaner.  And, although I was even older and without the excuses listed above, nor do I remember the day MLK Jr was killed.

I remember very clearly, however, the day of the attacks on New York, on the Twin Towers, on the USA.  Of course that was this century, and I was a fully grown adult, so it would have been hard to miss it.  I was at home (I worked night shift at the time) and totally unaware, when I called in to work for some reason, and couldn’t understand why the staffing coordinator sounded so ‘off’, so ‘out of it’.  ‘Are you watching TV?’ he asked me.  Yes I was, actually, I was watching my favorite reruns of the Golden Girls! He made me change the channel and I was transfixed and horrified. 

That night at work, I had to call the family member of a patient who had just died.  It was expected, but as the Nursing Supervisor I had to pass on the news and as delicately as I could, enquire whether there was a funeral home I could call for her (the facility I worked at did not have a morgue).  Her response was entirely unexpected.  ‘Oh no! All of those people from the Twin Towers! How is Dad going to get in?’ I was flummoxed.  Was she picturing Disney World, with long lines streaming in to the Pearly Gates? In a purely instinctive (and totally illogical but effective) move, I responded ‘Don’t worry, it’s after midnight.  It’s a new day now, so he won’t be in that crowd!’ And somehow (illogically) that response stopped her hysteria. 

The anniversary of that tragic event, along with amazing stories of bravery, heroism, neighborliness and unity, was eclipsed this week by another of the many acts of gun violence which take place in this country daily.  According to the Pew Research Center, 47,000 people died from gun violence in 2023.  Of those, the majority (58%) were death by suicide, and 38% were murder (the rest were law enforcement related, accidental, or undetermined).  What is even more alarming, is that 80% of all murders in this country, involved a gun.  This is a violent society.

It is a tricky situation, trying to navigate the territory between freedom of speech, and the freedom to inspire hate, to magnify division, and to spread misinformation.  Voltaire, an eighteenth-century philosopher, may or may not have said: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” This concept becomes hard to defend when the person speaking has a platform, and consistently spews hateful rhetoric against specific people (mostly women, and or people of color, and or people in the LGBQT community).  Avid followers then are inspired to send hate mail, death threats and worse to any of the people mentioned. 

I was raised by a pair of staunch pacifists.  My father (and his two brothers) refused to be enlisted during World War II, due to their Christian beliefs.  They had to go before a tribunal to defend their refusal.  This was not ‘conscientious objection’ which disputed a particular war, but a blanket refusal to kill their fellow man.  My parents participated (even in retirement) in peaceful protests against injustice, against war, against Apartheid, against any action which violated their Christian principles.  Violence of any kind was abhorrent to them, and never the answer.  As a Christian minister, my father lived by the instructions found in the gospel, and so we were taught to ‘turn the other cheek,’ to ‘do good to those who harm you’. 

But these are harsh times.  It seems as if we are not playing by the same rules any more.  When one side follows the rules and the other side increasingly seems to have thrown out the playbook, how are we supposed to respond?  And yet other words from my childhood seem to resonate: ‘If you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas!’  The instinctive response to the latest, or the most publicized, act of gun violence is another Bible inspired verse: ‘He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword’.  I have to confess that I never listened to or read any of the ‘free speech’ disseminated by the current victim before his death, but the means of his death does strike me as ironic.

So how do we move beyond this moment, without succumbing to the negative?  How can this country prevent those who would respond with more violence, with vengeful acts against perceived enemies?  What hope is there for us when our leaders name acts without knowing facts; identify perpetrators (as a group) when motives are still unknown?  How do we cool the jets, turn down the flame, encourage conversations between people of different opinions?

In the aftermath of 9/11, one of the most amazing things was the leadership shown by George W. Bush.  At a time when those who practiced the religion of the terrorists could have been the subject of hate, he reminded the US that ‘Islam is peace’ and quoted the Koran: ‘In the long run, evil in the extreme will be the end of those who do evil.’  He needed to set this example, because at the time many Muslims were scared to go out, the women were scared to be seen in their religious garb, in case they were targeted for retaliation.  He ended his speech by saying: ‘It’s a great country because we share the same values of respect and dignity and human worth.’

We need leaders who remind us of these values today.  Instead, we see people treated with a total lack of respect and dignity.  We hear speech that divides us, that demeans groups of people who do not meet the current description of what an American looks or sounds like.  We see policies implemented that take us back to the 50s, removing contraceptive rights, rights for the disabled, rights to live in a clean environment, and more.

It is up to those of us with a conscience to speak out for those who are voiceless, to protest (non-violently) those policies which seem to be detracting from democracy, to keep reminding those in power of the words of the Pledge of Allegiance: ‘…Indivisible.  With justice and liberty for ALL’!

On this Friday morning, I choose to live in hope that people of good conscience are in the majority, and that, as MLK Jr said, ‘The arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice’. 

Have a wonderful weekend, Family!

One Love!

Namaste.