The Battlefield, the Casualties, and ...

The Eastern Front -- the first successful Russian counterattack

the Culture War -- our continuing conflict over values and principles

We've faced challenges as a nation, and sometimes succeeded.  We wanted liberty, we wanted freedom from an oppressive empire, we wanted property rights and a return for our labor, all of which we've achieved, more or less.  In our pursuit of equality and the common good, however, we seem to have gone our separate ways and become as polarized as we were during the civil war.  A trend over the last thirty years, we've become more ideologically fractured than 'united' as a culture.

Extreme racial and ethnic prejudices have resurfaced and spread. Right and left have moved further apart and have little ability to work together.  Inequality has eroded the middle class, and the dream of a better life is unavailable to a large segment of our society.  Crime, violence, drugs, and incarceration are defining aspects of our society.  As unlikely as it seems, that's America today.

When we consider the battlefield in front of us, filled with violence and hostility, anger and irrationality and corruption ... it's hard to imagine a healthy response.  Do we fight force with force, go face the discrimination and extremism with political power and overwhelming counter-argument, tear down the walls with criticism and insult ... and loudly pass judgement on those who differ ... ???  That hasn't has worked, but instead has made things worse.

So how might we equip our children, who will follow our example, for the path ahead?

The Best Weapon:  We do live in the world, but we needn't fight the way the world fights. We have strength supporting us that the world doesn't have. With such grace from God, we can pull down walls, we can wipe away arguments and dismantle every proud thing that raises itself against the knowledge of God. We can be the light that shines.

Such grace is not to be found in criticism or insult, not in judgement or discrimination, not in anger or hate or violence.

Daryl Davis (right) and a klan leader

One unusual fellow sought out the KKK members and made friends. They ate dinner together and talked things through. His friendship lead to two hundred KKK members changing their minds and leaving the organization. He is Daryl Davis, the famous musician. And he is black, a descendent of slaves.

"When two enemies are talking, they're not fighting," Davis said. A Chicago-born Christian, Davis traveled the world in his youth. After many countries and racially mixed cultures, coming home to America where folks could throw rocks at him because of his color was confusing, to say the least. It lead to a lifetime of confronting racism. His surprisingly successful tactic: friendship.

A good heart is an extraordinary weapon.

Strong love is durable, it makes a place for others and has no need to put another down or to insult or do harm. Strong love is a life-shaper, a help-bringer, a world-changer. It's the light that shines brightest on dark days. It's our greatest offering.

The Science of Violence

1. Behavior is learned.  Violence doesn't appear suddenly in an individual.  It emerges over years.   ... so ?
2. Over those years, we learn the most from what we see and experience.  We copy the familial and social models around us. 
   ... and?
3. From year to year, it's unconscious learning – we pick it up with little awareness that we're being deeply changed.    ... and?
4. Violence emerges as an outlet for frustration, commonly from repeated failure to make progress or anger at failing yet again to change things.   ... and?

   

   ... the language of the unheard

5. And, exposure to violence increases our own risk of becoming violent; it spreads from one person to another like a contagious disease.  ... is there a solution?  Yes, but it's not an easy one.

We've seen the changes around us -- increasing crime and violence, the decline of family and community, the rise in incarceration, and today's angry polarization; we taught ourselves to do all of that.

That is what we know.  It's old news.  

The plague is not uniform, of course. Not every child will become a criminal, not every relationship will be a battlezone, not every school will be a hostile environment. But our culture continues to change. Violence in the media (along with sensuality) is a centerpiece sales element, and exposure has multiplied in every age bracket and every venue.

We are physiologically changed by violence,

experienced or witnessed,

first or second-hand.    

Children are more likely to experience violence than adults. [Ref]  In 2014, more than two-thirds of children (below age 18) were exposed to violence, either directly as victims or indirectly as witnesses. [Ref]  It can lead to lasting physical, mental, and emotional harm, whether you're a direct victim or a witness.   Such exposure changes us.  

Perhaps the best Solution:  Not everyone is equally conformed to our troublesome culture; some walk a different path by deliberate choice and effort.  That advice to be "in the world, but not of the world" turns out to be extraordinarily practical wisdom.  Just going with the flow would be the opposite.

Everything is on the table for review -- lifestyle, entertainment choices, fashion, consumption, vocabulary, activities, relationships, subjects of conversation, attitude, affiliations, values, principles, and life goals.  

So do we need to change things?  Obviously.  The contaminated part has to be detached and removed.  It takes deliberate choice, and we'll need help for ourselves to change.  Then as we progress, we can perhaps encourage others and be a helpful example.  Then what?  How broadly can we affect our culture?

If you want to participate in this nation

... there are rights to be preserved, and rights to be surrendered.  

That's George Washington's perspective as well as that of the other members of the Constitutional Convention.  When they submitted the Constitution to Congress, Washington in his accompanying letter explains  ...

New citizens celebrate after taking the oath of allegiance.

It is obviously impracticable in the Federal Government of these States to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all. Individuals entering into society must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must depend as well on situation and circumstance, as on the object to be obtained. It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the line between those rights which must be surrendered, and those which may be preserved; and, on the present occasion, this difficulty was increased by a difference among the several States as to their situation, extent, habits, and particular interests. 

In all our deliberations on this subject, we kept steadily in our view that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety—perhaps our national existence. This important consideration, seriously and deeply impressed on our minds, led each State in the Convention to be less rigid on points of inferior magnitude than might have been otherwise expected; and thus, the Constitution which we now present is the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession, which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable. That it will meet the full and entire approbation of every State is not, perhaps, to be expected; but each will, doubtless, consider, that had her interest alone been consulted, the consequences might have been particularly disagreeable or injurious to others; that it is liable to as few exceptions as could reasonably have been expected, we hope and believe; that it may promote the lasting welfare of that Country so dear to us all, and secure her freedom and happiness, is our most ardent wish. 

    GEORGE WASHINGTON, President.
  By the unanimous order of the convention.
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All are created equal.  Each has inalienable rights.  Each deserves the full respect and support of the nation and of every citizen.  We must understand, however, that we are each a part of the whole, not the centerpiece.  Were our interests alone to be satisfied, the consequences might be detrimental or injurious to others.  If we are willing to be so informed, we might become less disagreeable and more respectful.  We might make a place in the discussion for the interests of others.  And we might be less willing to accommodate the extremist, the racist, the elitist, the exclusivist corruption in our own thinking .... 

Balancing Life and Liberty

Walking the ridgeline between absolute freedom and absolute security ...

Post 9/11, we did what we had to do, we went all in on fighting terrorism.  We monitored phones and emails, transactions and travel, … we went overboard, pulling the plug on due process, privacy, protection from illegal search, incarceration and torture, and we jumped into international military engagement.  It was a time of extraordinary departure from national principles.  All understandable, and we’ve tried after the fact to clean up the mess, but we note the rights and rules that were set aside while we responded to the threat.

I remember the open discussion.  We knew we were quickly pushing past boundaries, and we weighed the options -- bend the rules and be safe or watch more people die. 

So they read my email, so what.  So they tracked my phone calls, so what.  They know about my guns, my friends, associates, travel, buying habits, work history, and report cards from elementary school, so what.  Okay, it did get a little out of hand and perhaps still hasn’t yet been reasonably constrained.  (grotesque understatement)

That’s us trying to balance personal liberty with the safety of our people, our families.  

Today, we’re dealing with the deaths at Stoneman Douglas High School.  The quick answer is school security, gun control, and armed teachers, ... but yesterday at a Birmingham school that has metal detectors and armed security officers, an 'accidental' shooting killed one and wounded another.  There will be more, but broad and practical discussion is absolutely needed.

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The gun homicide rate in the U.S. is 25 times higher per capita than other high-income countries.  For 2018, 68 days into the year, 1,800 folks have been killed by gun violence, 16 police officers have been shot and killed in the line of duty, and we’ve had 18 19 school shootings/incidents so far. 

Why?
  Specifically, ... why?
    And how do we fix it?

We’re walking that same ridgeline again, trying to balance life and liberty.  There are solutions available, and we will figure out a way through.  The changes are perhaps not likely to be simple or particularly agreeable to many.