Jesus Wept

In the song People Are People, the group Depeche Mode sings

So we're different colours and we're different creeds

And different people have different needs

It's obvious you hate me though I've done nothing wrong

I've never even met you so what could I have done

I can't understand what makes a man hate another man

Help me understand People are people So why should it be

You and I should get along so awfully

Now you're punching and you're kicking and you're shouting at me

And I'm relying on your common decency So far it hasn't surfaced but I'm sure it exists It just takes a while to travel from your head to your fist I can't understand what makes a man hate another man

Help me understand

People are people So why should it be

You and I should get along so awfully

Today I spent a lot of time reflecting on the actions taken by people filled with hate. After prayer this morning, I began my day by reading and listening to speeches and reflections given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I continued by looking at things written and spoken about Dr. King and his influence on the world before and after his assasination 40 years ago today. I saw the anger and the hatred of those who opposed him and I heard the sadness and disbelief of those who loved and respected him and saw his life cut short. I thought a lot about the Civil Rights Tour I took with my students, the people we met, the things we learned and the expereinces we had during that week. It was a morning filled with thoughts on those who saw another way, challenged the world to change, and responded nonviolently to the hatred that they encountered.

My reflection on the effects of hatred did not end in the morning but continued throughout the day. After lunch, Sr. Joann and I drove downtown to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. I walked past the one surviving tree, around the reflection pool, stopped near the memorial chairs and said silent prayers for all those killed. We then crossed the street to the statue you see above. It has Jesus turning from the violence of the destruction and weeping for those lost. He is facing a wall that contains markers for each of the victims. It was very moving in many ways. We then continued on into the memorial museum. So much sadness from the hatred of so few continuing in our world. It was important to go to the museum but it was not easy to be there and several times tears came to my eyes and my heart ached reading and listening to the accounts from the survivors and from those who lost loved ones. So much destruction and sadness caused by the hatred of a few.

As the thoughts of today still weigh heavy on my heart and in my prayers I thought it best I end with words of hope. Below are the words spoken by Robert Kennedy on this night 40 years ago.

You can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country in great polarization or we can make an effort as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend and to replace that violence, that stain of blood shed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love. My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the grace of God." What we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another. Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people."

And let us also pray for all the people of this world touched by the violence of hatred.