Is BLM doing polling now?

 

Have you noticed that Black Lives Matter has been changing what it stands for again and again in concert with that for which there is popular support.  They hoped that you wouldn’t notice.

About 6 years ago, their message was Kill All Police.  That told me that I wanted nothing to do with them right away, but that it would be wise to keep an eye on them.

Over the years, they changed their message to promote—not accept but promote—the LGBT and a bunch of other letters that I don’t’ know what they mean.  This has been removed from the website as well.

They were against the nuclear family—one in which the Father would be a vital part.  I have worked with so many black men who had no real father in their lives.  I worked with them while they were in prison and not being a father to their children.

I can see why the BLM movement wanted an it takes a village approach over the nuclear family.  It got the dead-beat fathers off the hook.  Somebody else can bring up their children while they are free to make more elsewhere.

OBTW—nobody wants to talk about that.  This topic of the father in the family has never been present in the BLM movement.

Then there was their support of this cisgender garbage—letting the child pick his or her own gender when the time is right.  Again, this was not acceptance but pushing the agenda.  This one is absent from their present message.

The present site seems to promote less absurdity but still is opposed to the system in place to redress grievances.  It takes no responsibility for why some of its members are imprisoned.  It’s still illegal to riot and kill and destroy property, but the site does not denounce such practices.  It only objects when its followers are held accountable for criminal action.

What has happened is that this organization which could have been used for good but has become a terrorist organization has turned down its trying to bring in all factions rhetoric.  They want a kinder, gentler look as they riot and loot and don’t want to alienate those who might have great compassion for the plight of people of color but don’t want anything to do with denying the gender assigned by God.

They are a political faction set on the destruction of this nation and its core values but they pay attention to the polls.

They seek power and have eliminated some of their vitriolic and godless approaches from their statements of purpose.

They are a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  They have just upgraded their costumes.  Do not be deceived.

Do we need to improve race relations?  Absolutely.

Is BLM working to do this?  No!

In one of the few places on the planet where people can be involved in nonviolent change, the BLM movement seeks violence.  They are here to help no one but themselves.  They want power not reconciliation or better conditions for black people.

It’s a sad story in our country that people have leveraged the plight of black people to gain their votes and power.  Now we see BLM leveraging their own community to gain power, not for the good of anyone, but simply to gain power as so many before them have done.

Beware!

Truth Matters

 

Saying that BLM supports helping black people is like saying that KKK is just a good inning for a pitcher.   BLM is by their own acknowledgments a Marxist organization intent on destroying the nuclear family, including promoting this pick your own gender business.

Their statement/stance is a moving target.  It has been softened over the past few years and does not currently include killing police.

The KKK is a racist organization even if I try to promote it as a baseball thing.

I’m glad to see some messages coming out that read “I believe that black lives matter “instead of blindly supporting the BLM that wants to create anarchy in the government and in the family.

Please use the sound mind that God gave you.  If you want to promote racial reconciliation, then do it, but don’t jump on the bandwagon of the month because it sounds good.  Envision the end state of BLM.  There will be no liberty.  There will be no racial equality.  The family unit will be defunct.  Someone other than God will help your child determine what gender they are and the government in whatever form it takes in post-democratic America will require its approval.

I don’t think I have to explain what the KKK wants.  I don’t know why it is necessary to reiterate what BLM promotes.

BLM and the KKK both emanate from evil intentions.  Don’t show your support for them in any fashion unless you truly support the evil behind them.

Try this exercise.  Name 3 people that BLM or KKK has helped in a tangible way, not by using them to promote hate or further the organizational cause or as a media showpiece, but by helping them get a better job or home or education. 

Truth matters.

Love matters.

Reconciliation matters.

Hope matters.

Service matters.

Life matters.  It is a gift of God and we must cherish it.

American Privilege

I hear the words white privilege and know that in many cases in America it is present.  I don’t buy that the condition is ubiquitous, but prevalent is surely a viable assessment.  Many are in shock when I state that such privilege can be put to work for good, to bring glory to God and help our fellow brothers and sisters.

Too many mock God and insist that we must repent of our skin color.  God will not be mocked so don’t look for me in that club though the membership is growing daily.

Now, I’m really going to get under the skin of many of varied hues.  I will tell you that there is American privilege.  If you are American, the chances are that you are privileged regardless of the color of your skin.  You—we—have so much more than the rest of the world just because we are Americans.

Better food, housing, education, transportation, acceptance, respect, and much more just because we are American.  We may or may not have worked for this somewhere along the way.  We may or may not have deserved this, but it is there.  Not every person outside of our country loves us, but they love what we have—opportunity, in addition to the other previously listed blessings.

Most people in the world, at least the ones not sworn to destroy us, envy what we have.  We are privileged and most don’t even know it.  American privilege is real.

And yes, we have wealth.  We are rich and I mean almost all of us compared to half the world or more.  Do you know what a privilege—let’s say blessing—it is to have running water that comes inside our homes? Do you know what it is to travel coast to coast without government-approved endorsements?

Do you know what it is like to speak your mind and the most you will see in retaliation are some hateful comments.  You don’t end up in prison.

Do you know what a privilege it is to have health care services that we can complain about instead of wishing we had something more than a clinic that serviced two million people.

Do you know what a privilege it is to be able to travel to most of the globe, even to countries that are not America’s best friends, just because you are American.

American privilege is real but not the topic of the month.  It’s not popular because one group of Americans can’t point their finger at another group and say they have it or we don’t or combinations thereof.  Just about every single American enjoys privilege.

The question posed before us is the same one I pose for white privilege.  If it’s real and you have it, what will you do with it?

Will you divest yourself of it?

Will you use it only for your own needs?

Will you bury it in the ground?

Will you put it to work at once for the glory of God. 

Don’t feel guilty about privilege.  You didn’t earn it.  It was given to you. 

Do with it what you would do with other gifts.  If someone gave you $10 million, would you refuse it?  Would you use it only for your own selfish needs and desires?  Would you bury it in the ground?

Would you put it to work for the glory of God?

Privilege is not merit.  Merit is about earning more.  Privilege is granted based upon who you are or who your group is.  The question is, what do we do with it?

I have experienced white privilege.  I have also experienced increased danger because of my skin color.  When you come out of a building in the Middle East and see someone you don’t know leaving your vehicle in a hurry when they see you, you break out that telescopic mirror and make three laps around your vehicle instead of the usual one.  Your senses peak and your look for anything out of place.

You can live with a knocking sound in the engine.  Sounds that go boom are unforgiving. 

I know what it is to be singled out for my skin color.  When you are one of two white men in a community of almost two million black people, some point at you.  Some fathers bring their sons out to show you to them.  You are different and a rarity. 

There is usually no hostility.  When you walk down a street in these places, you will attract attention from the less than friendly element.  All is not just the uniqueness of a white man in western Kenya.

So, I have known privilege and I have known danger, and I have been singled out for my race. 

I have been singled out for being an American. I never desired to be worshiped so when I was, it was somewhat unnerving.  I was in Kuwait City shopping at the outdoor market set up by the Iranians that came across the gulf with nuts and other items of interest.  Suddenly, I was surrounded by dozens of women making all sorts of unfamiliar noises and waving their arms at be in something of a bowing motion. 

They were Kurds.  American forces had saved thousands of Kurds from Saddam.  They saw the American flag on my left shoulder.  The United Nations patch on my right shoulder was ornamental to them.  The American flag drew much attention and extremely favorable attention.

If you have white privilege, use it for the glory of God.

If you have American privilege, use it for the glory of God.

If you are privileged because you were born into or inherited wealth, use it for the glory of God.

Here is a little something I know about privilege.  As a commissioned officer I had head of the line privileges in most places on base.  Seldom did I exercise them but they were there and sometimes you needed to be in three places at once and you did use your privilege.

That same privilege applies in the field training exercise or in combat, but officers just don’t use it.  When Marines receive hot chow in the field, it’s a big thing.  Officers eat last because sometimes the chow runs out.  It is a privilege to eat last.

It’s time to take off the blinders that those who wish to generate and maintain hate have placed on us.  There is white privilege.  There is white profiling—mostly overseas.  There is American privilege that is much more pervasive than anything based on skin color.  There is American profiling. 

Many factors in our lives give us privilege and advantage.  Some of those same things come with existential risks attached.  That’s life, but what do we do with privilege, advantage, danger, risk, and so many other things that we receive in the course of a lifetime.

The question remains, what will we do with what we have and what we will be given?

Refuse it?  Use it selfishly?  Bury it in the ground?

Put it to work for the glory of God!

The only answer with any efficacy in reconciling one to another is to put it to work for the glory of God.

Humanity Matters

Social Distancing???

We should consider the words with which we have abided to some degree for the past few months.  Chief among them is social distancing.  What does that mean?

Some would say that physical distancing would be more accurate for we are social creatures and surely, we are not to be disconnected from each other, are we?  Are we?  We just need to spread out more, right?

I propose a new term:  human distancing.  That’s what we have been asked to do, put distance between humans.  We are now defined as carriers of contagion.  People have been through thousands of years and countless diseases and contagions without having to live their lives at double-arms interval. 

The guidelines that emerged this year are dehumanizing and we accepted them.  The other extreme of dehumanizing is packing people in like cattle such as in a crowded subway car.  There should be some sane limits applied, but not to the extent of having to look at every person like they had the cooties.

The discussion and arguments about which lives matter rage once again.  Black Lives, Blue Lives, All Lives seem to have taken center stage at some point in this unique year.  Always left voiceless in the background are those yet to be born but still thriving in their mother’s womb until they are not. 

We paused momentarily to recognize those working the front-line medical services, but did we realize that we were being conditioned to dehumanize each other?

As we divided and subdivided which lives mattered, still at work was the model that no lives mattered.  Life and lives existed for the manipulation of the few seeking to seize or retain power, many of these not being elected officials.  Life in the aggregate had become a commodity to be bartered.

Social distancing was proof that fear was a powerful tool.  Suddenly, we were afraid of each other.  Mass manipulation was not only possible but easier than anyone would have thought in a land formed out of independent will and pioneer spirit.

So now the discussion is moving towards how do we get back to work and to school.  I say let’s do it without using the term social distancing.  If we are going to separate people by distance, we should be required to use the dehumanizing term, human distancing.    Let’s remind ourselves that we are treating ourselves as carriers of contagion instead of creatures made in the image of God. 

Should we wash our hands more?  Absolutely.  Should we stay at home when we are sick? Yes!  That goes for keeping your kids at home when they are sick as well.  Should we keep an abundant supply of hand sanitizer?  Why not, and maybe some moisturizing lotion for when our skin begins to crack.

And yes, even you teachers and supervisors need to stay at home when you are sick.  The world will survive without you for a couple days.

There may be some work-at-home models that continue because they were good for both employee and employer and not because they saved the world from a mostly impotent contagion, at least as far as things declared to be plagues go.  There may be some adjustments to sick leave policy for working parents with sick children.  The employee who produces a great return for his employer will be worth this perk.

Let’s kick social distancing to the curb.  Let’s not accept its first cousin physical distancing as a fill-in.  Let’s use the term human distancing so we are reminded that what we are doing is dehumanizing.

People use the term New Normal a lot these days.  If the New Normal does not improve the quality of human life, I say let’s kick it to the curb.

Let’s not lose our humanity in this façade presented to save humanity.

If you are sick then stay home.

If you are vulnerable, then be on the lookout for where you are at risk.

If you are ready to live life to the full, then don’t let the propaganda hold you back.

You, we, are more than carriers of contagion, and our humanity matters.

Humanity Matters!