I have to admit, after the killing of two African-American men in Louisiana and in Minnesota, and then the deaths of five police officers in Dallas, I thought everything that could be said has already been said. We are beginning to sound like broken records.
Then, as I was driving Tuesday and listening to the beginning of the service for the officers slain in Dallas, Texas, it occurred to me that there was an odd parallel between these lives lost and those almost exactly a year ago in Charleston, S.C.
Often, when a young black man like Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., or Eric Garner, in Staten Island, and more recently Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, is killed by law enforcement, an immediate effort is made by some to paint the men's deaths as justified. After all, Garner, selling illegal cigarettes on the street corner, resisted arrest; ditto Mike Brown, a robbery suspect. Ditto Alton Sterling, hustling CDs on the street, who ran when cops tried to apprehend him. Philando Castile, by all accounts, a gentle, hardworking young man, employed 12 years in the Minneapolis-St. Paul public schools, is now being smeared on some websites as an armed robbery suspect, by which some are attempting to justify his killing.
But there were nine people last year in Charleston, S.C., whom nobody could besmirch. A Christian minister at the oldest church in Charleston, S.C. A school coach, a college administrator, a retired city worker, a recent college graduate, a Bible study teacher and a grandfather and pillar of the church...
No, these were all upstanding citizens, felled by hatred. When their relatives forgave the young man who summarily executed them after being welcomed into their midst at a Bible study, the entire nation was moved.
Likewise, police, in this environment, are often tarred with the same brush as their wrongdoing colleagues. But now, there are five heroic cops who have been slain; some reportedly actually giving their lives shielding those who had come to what they thought was a peaceful protest.
As we remember innocents who have been cut down in the prime of life, we also need to remember one Man who was truly innocent, as well as sinless, who laid down his life for not one or two, but for all of humankind. He said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
It does seem unfair to us that the nine lives in Charleston, S.C. and five in Dallas were cut down in their prime. One young Latino cop survived two tours in Afghanistan, only to be cut down by hatred on his own soil. He was 21 years old and a father.
Dylan Roof and Micha Xavier Johnson gave their lives over to hatred; exemplifying the worst in our society and culture. However, although we are often divided by race, not many of us will pick up a physical weapon to cut down those we hate.
Yet Jesus warns us that sin starts in the heart. James further has told us that when sin is full blown it leads to death. Can all of us take time to examine our own hearts?
For one fearful moment, hearing of the sniper (whom it was originally reported was a group of snipers), I literally feared we could descend into another civil war.
But. But. The martyrs among us. They speak to us with their blood as Abel spoke with his. Although their lives were cut short, they were not without great meaning.
Henri Nouwen, the late Catholic priest and beloved writer, has noted:
"Some people live long lives, some die very young. Is a long life better than a short life? What truly counts is not the length of our lives but their quality. Jesus was in his early 30s when he was killed. Thèrése de Lisieux was in her 20s when she died. Anne Frank was a teenager when she lost her life. But their short lives continue to bear fruit long after their deaths."
May the sacrifice of those slain by hatred truly continue to bear fruit in us: of understanding, of faith, of brotherhood, of love.