Change must be brought about from within
with understanding and respect while nonetheless holding the line.
Ann: Hello, Peter, I thought I heard your voice.
Peter: Yes, you did. And call me Pete as Laurie did. I’m just an ordinary bloke.
I am coming around now because all of us ordinary blokes of the world are taking a hit and could use a little support. When the job goes, the demands increase, the work turns nasty, and everybody blames you, how do we stand up and still survive?
I am thinking in particular about all the police officers who have suddenly become the whipping boys for radical change. What you have to remember is that they are human beings most of whom entered the profession to serve and protect. They are trained to do that, and they are trained to follow orders. When that is coupled with abuse and the life threatening situations they encounter every day, not to mention crowds of protesters who well outnumber them, is it any wonder that some of them turn away from their original mission?
I understand this because I understand pressure, survival, and capitulation to darker forces. We cannot condemn them generically. Change must be brought about from within with understanding and respect while nonetheless holding the line.
The example your president sets is to lie, deny, and assume there is no such thing as truth. Unfortunately, some people are following his example. Instead, we must return to the facts – and sometimes those facts will go in favor of the police or a group we don't support, but vilifying the whole because of the transgressions of some will turn the tide against us. Jesus forgave the Centurian and, as a result, his life was changed, and he dedicated his life to the light.
I ask each of you to use discernment when you look at any of these highly charged situations. It is as natural as breathing to support a comrade in arms and take his word for what happened. It is not natural to cross-examine him and look at all the evidence against him with an open mind. So don’t ask anyone to do that. Ask the one who has no dog in the fight, rearrange the chain of accountability so that someone with nothing to gain or lose (if there is such an animal) can decide what is true. There must be a trier of fact in these cases, and it must be right out there in the open. Please don't follow anyone else's vision of right or wrong off the cliff, look and decide for yourself.
Beyond that, I ask you to find that neutral observer within your own soul in every aspect of your life. Turn it on when strife in your work, family, friends, community, or nation arises. So it’s your kid, so what? What actually happened? How do you find out? So it’s your job being threatened? Do you lie, dissemble, and throw someone else under the bus? Or can you look at the big picture and see, truly see, where the right solution leads you. We must make every effort to keep ourselves from prejudgment.
Nothing else can help us to reduce conflict. If you can start this process in your own life, maybe someone else will too, because discernment is contagious. Then maybe when an idea becomes a cause, you can decide whether that cause is just and how best to support its objectives.
Look into your own heart, not for what you hope to see, but for what is true. Then take the next right step accordingly. Call on me, on Jesus, Miriam, Michael and the raft of angels and beings who are here to help you. We will answer your call.
June 6, 2020