I don't have cable. In fact, I haven't had it in years. So, yesterday when I happened to be over at my friend's house around dinner time and the TV flipped on, I was elated to be able to watch the Red Carpet coverage for the SAG awards. I can live without cable, no problem, but watching fashion commentary for an award show is just about as delicious as my favorite iced shortbread cookies.
Anyway, as we were watching the parade of celebrities walk the runway so to speak, the coverage kept bouncing between interviewers who were lobbing the traditional questions at their glamorous subjects. One woman in particular caught my attention, because I recognized her from a show I used to watch, but I had no idea what new project she was nominated for. As I was soaking up her answers and gathering intel, the interviewer launched a humdinger in her lap by asking her about allegations against her brother in law. Now, I can be accused of living under a rock, but even I know what's been going on in Hollywood these days with accusations of misconduct swirling and uprooting lives faster than a tornado in Kansas. But it wasn't the allegations themselves that made my heart sink. It was my profound disappointment in the interviewer for asking this actress the question.
Here is a woman (the actress) who has been working her assets off to build a career and entertain the public. She has obviously done a spectacular job, as evidenced by her nomination, and in the midst of her night, an interviewer decides to ask her an impossible question about events of which she had no part. Does she support her family or does she support her gender? Well, her answer was flawless. She was a real class act, but that didn't erase my utter disappointment in what I had just witnessed.
I teach Sunday school and this weekend my second graders had a retreat to prepare for their first reconciliation. As an adult volunteer for the event, I was able to sit in on the "examination of conscience" talk with the kids a couple times. One of the verses the speaker mentioned to the kids was, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" It's a verse most of us have heard many times over, but you have to wonder if we are really hearing its message.
Where did our kindness go? Why are we operating under the illusion that we are perfect and that judging others is a worthy past time? Should tripping up our fellow woman or man be the spectator sport it seems to be morphing into?
We all sin. We all hurt others. We all have bad behavior. Let's not forget that. Without our flaws, we wouldn't be human. But we must remember that hate won't heal. It simply doesn't have the same power as love.
I do believe victims should speak up when they are ready. I do believe people should have consequences for their actions. I would never want to take away from anyone who is victimized in any way. But as a woman, I want to be a protector. I want to nurture where ever possible. My love is powerful. With it, I can heal wounds, instead of pulling them further apart. It's not glamorous work. Most of the time, it goes entirely unnoticed, but the only one who needs to see it does. All that we do and all that we are should be a reflection of our love for Our Father. Whether we are born on the streets or in a palace, we are all children of a king. Many of us have forgotten that. You can imagine why when it's so much easier to point fingers than to look at our own shortcomings.
What would happen if, in light of these terrible news stories, we focused on how we could be better people? In our immediate circle, what can we do to move closer to Jesus's example?
Today is the 45th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. My mind reels when I think about all of the lives that have been lost by one court decision. Everyone always focuses on the babies that were lost due to that verdict, but what rarely gets mentioned are the women who's lives were entirely altered by losing their children. Some would argue that women who have had an abortion get what they deserve, but I disagree. No one deserves to feel the pain associated with such a loss. We don't know what caused them to go through with the abortion. We don't even know if it was their decision to make. Quite frankly, it's none of our business anyway. It is our business to heal where we can, and again, we can't heal with hate. We can only love people back into wholeness. Love our brothers who are in the headlines for bad behavior. Love our sisters who have suffered profound losses. Love our neighbor who is just as imperfect as we are.
As long as we are drawing a breath, we have have a power to heal. Let's accept the challenge and use it.