America's Moral Compass

As we have yet another "Ferguson" unfolding in the Big Apple, the same pundits, talking heads, pontficants are all at their places spouting the gospel of hatred, disrespect and blaming.  Having watched the incessant coverage since August 9 that was mind numbing, this cacophony will certainly surpass the Ferguson Effect.  I have realized in the last few days that the very fabric of our national moral compass is being ripped to shreds and, from my perspective, on a much greater and more damaging scale than during my teenage years in the mid 1960s in Alabama.

 

Three times today in separate conversations I found myself having this crawling feeling that comes when the touchstone of racism is approached for it leaves an indelible mark of concern for the person with whom you are speaking.  The matter of "political correctness" is now blurred thus even a hint of opinion about our current state of affairs can too quickly become flawed and anger-generating. So the Pavlov's Dog Effect causes there to be no conversation, no expression of opinion for you know you are wrong before you begin.  That, for America, is more acute than at any time I can recall during my lifetime. That is very sad for there has never been a more needful time to be able to be able to articulate thoughts, concerns and fears without retribution or retaliation.

 

I mean, when Charles Barkley becomes the "voice" of logic to a whole component of the American population, even he is finding himself being frontally assaulted by people of color for his rendering his opinion.  The degree of distrust of the entire criminal justice system, its prosecutors, the police, the National Guard, the FBI, etc, is overwhelming and frightening as a citizen. 

 

I am the perpetual optimist but I can feel some of that oozing away daily in the morass of hatred and negativity. It is exhausting and it is turning friends against friends, neighbors against neighbors and brothers against brothers. I did not choose that previous sentence loosely for it was part of the lexicon in the description of the American Civil War; sound familiar?

 

My nature is not to conspiratorial in thought but I do seek to understand what is happening around me and then to connect dots.  The dots that are connected are yielding a very fearful picture as we view the horizon. Please know that I pray I am wrong but it seems that we are in a time when everybody has a shovel and everybody wants to keep digging the hole deeper.

 

Even in the throws of this mess, and a mess it is, I believe in this nation and this democratic form of government called a republic where We the People elect people to represent our views that enact laws to reflect our needs.  That function in this nation right now is broken and inept it appears to me.  When two of the three triumvirate arms are not working, which is the case now, my concern escalates geometrically.

 

I believe in our law enforcement, in our criminal justice system for I still believe it is the best in the world. I, like most Americans, just want the nation and our leaders to "take a knee" and let's figure this out.  It takes offense and defense to win a ball game and I think we need both seeking equilibrium in our human relations today.  There are far too many gangs, guns and organizations that reside for one purpose which is to create anguish and damage.  

 

As an American, I ask the question ... what do we stand for, really?  All evidence to the contrary, I believe our moral compass is spinning sadly out of control. The fix begins with leadership, transparency and accountability.  Let US FIX THIS THING before it blows up into something that is unstoppable.  Remember 1861 .... yes, it can happen again!

 

Lord Jesus, come quickly!