I bracket the always, ever wary of the universal claim.
Then I backpedal, just a bit. . .
Maybe we can say that deception is, perhaps, the most-often unrecognized and perpetrated act of violence by we humans.
Maybe? Perhaps? Could I qualify it into meaninglessness any more?
Deception tears us apart from within.
Now we're getting somewhere.
And deception is the handmaid of (physical) violence -- the lies we (must) tell ourselves to justify the violence we do, those particular forms of deception, are, by their very nature . . .
unending . . .
shocking in their daring . . .
infinite in their scope . . .
abyss-filling in their capacity destroying . . .
Jacob and Esau serve as paradigms . . . but their reality is achingly human . . . achingly broken . . . achingly true . . .
***
The shooting and the dying continue unabated (Gunman Used AK47 in IHOP Shooting) and we tell ourselves that the profits made from the weapons of destruction have no bearing on the destruction . . . no place in the conversation . . . no impact on our ‘rights’ to be bearers of such destruction . . .(Gun Violence in NYC)
We need not be an infinite string of Jacobs and Esaus locked in eternal combat . . . like the brothers, we too can find the pathway to peace . . . beginning with forgiveness, reconciliation, and putting down our arms, our 'right to be right' . . . and embracing each other in the love and Spirit of God.
We can.
I have read and read about the violence- listened to those who will not have their weapons drawn from them until their cold dead hands release them I have never thought about Jacob and Esau-the violence begins with words- deceptive words that have power often beyond our comeprenhension when they are said and yet they are still said- oh yeah we have decieved ourselves- and continue to commit violence against one another without a blink of the eye- because it is our right- whatever-- Thank goodness that is not God's response to us!
ReplyDeleteTo decieve a person or group there has to be indifference to them. Maybe that is the emotion that proceeds the act....ann
ReplyDeleteAnn - wonderfully insightful thought - indifference is so much 'easier', isn't it? Maybe that is the piece we're missing - how very costly to others and to ourselves our indifference is. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I'm with you - thank and thanking God! Grace abounds. Jacob & Esau did find their way back to each other - we know Jacob's journey to those open arms - how I wish we knew Esau's.
ReplyDeleteWe can, but the question is, will we?
ReplyDeletePatti - in my rough draft, I had actually finished with the question, "Will we?" - am hopeful in spite of the evidence, my faith in God's moving in our hearts.
ReplyDelete