The bridge collapse in Minnesota was certainly a tragedy on many levels. In such times of disaster the conversation quickly shifts to the source of the event and the focus of blame for the event. I don’t have cable, and I haven’t checked the web today to see if any further evidence has come forward to help us learn what “caused” the collapse. But I heard quite soon after the event that the bridge did not really have let’s say a clean bill of health in its structural integrity. Actually, I heard this on the radio while driving, and the voice informed me that thousands of other bridges were as structurally deficient or more than the one that collapsed. The voice then told me, “You might be driving on one of these bridges right now!” As luck would have it, I wasn’t driving on a bridge at all – thank God.
It’s always dicey to speculate whether or not this or any disaster could have been avoided. But, if the bridge truly was not up to code, and if there are many other bridges that could suffer the same fate at any moment, shouldn’t the government be spending money on these repairs rather than funding an endless war in Iraq? Did the debacle of the levees in New Orleans teach us nothing? I guess the outrage over the scores of people who died unnecessarily when Katrina came through wasn’t enough to teach anyone who holds the purse strings a lesson. Perhaps the outrage wasn’t expressed by the right “kind” of people – the “kind” of people our elected officials listen to and are concerned about. Maybe this disaster in Minnesota will bring about enough outrage to do something different. Maybe the message will reach our leaders that funding death and destruction is not something we are willing to do anymore. The price is simply too high.
But what are we doing about it? I’m continually saddened at the lack of political action in our Church. I don’t want to return to the days of Constantine or even the days during the nineteenth century when the Methodist Church was all but a state church. I’m not asking for Church and State to collapse into the same thing. I’m simply begging the pastors and members of our Church to live our beliefs in a way that can no longer be ignored. Do we not want an end to this war – to all wars? If so, why aren’t we ending it? If we put all we have into such an effort, I believe it would take no time at all.
We’re comfortable. We want others to think for us and run things so we can play golf and go nice places to eat. I’m just as bad as anyone else – except I don’t play golf. But seriously, things have gone way down the toilet and I’m sick of whistling a happy tune. When we prayed the Prayer of Confession before celebrating Holy Communion yesterday, I became ill at the truthfulness of it all. I have drowned out the cry of the needy with my iPod for far too long. If we believe what we say we believe, we must start living these beliefs in ways that shake up the world. We can do that, or we can wonder how things would be different if we weren’t too comfortable to care.
2 comments:
Haay, David.
This blog will never last, and when I say this blog, I mean no blog I ever start will last more than 1 hour.
I just wanted to say that the special features on the "Children of Men" DVD have some cool things to offer kind of about this same thing, but in a different way. They seem to focus on global warming more than other issues, but more generally talk about how we know these things are true, that we have screwed things up and that the future is grim on many fronts, but that we still don't believe it enough in a real way to do anything about it. How we look around and think, "this is all real, this nice day and my nice things.. they can't just not be here tomorrow." But truly, we are irreversibly screwed with this global warming thing, and poorly built bridges are a tame danger compared to some of the other things we just decide aren't important enough to change, like global warming, hate, racial division,
I don't know if I would necessarily feel more scared if I didn't believe Jesus is coming back soon, but I definitely should be if I don't believe that. Namely, because my great great grandchildren will probably melt or drown in melted north pole.
But this is how people are. We are generally lazy. Maybe not by birth, but the majority (I'm speaking of the US) of us are a part of a society that gets lazier and lazier.
The things I am weak about, my vices and bad habits, I have a hell of a hard time getting enough steam to even think about what I might do to improve those. It's hard to believe a government made up of people like me could accomplish much of anything. And it's kind of the same thing. We both have our own well-being and those we are responsible for to gain or lose, but things that take effort to do are difficult to get done.
Basically, this is me not necessarily excusing the government, but just saying, I'd be even crappier than they are. I also probably wouldn't attack much of anybody, much less start a completely bogus war. I wouldn't recommend my lazy sort of pacifism to anyone though.
thanks man. i haven't seen "children of men" yet, but i really want to. i think a netflix trial might be in order soon.
yeah, i'm lazy too - and truly the crisis with the environment worries me more than most things. it seems like things are just spiraling out of control. ticks are probably going to be hunting us soon. i don't want something incredibly horrific to happen in order to turn things around - but that's what i feel might happen. then again, i thought the world would never be the same after 9/11 - and it's far worse now.
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