The Best and the Worst on Display

 "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.” Matthew 12:33 (NRSV)

Last week the best and worst of humanity was on display. A racist bigot traumatizes a couple of teenage girls on a MAX train…three people come to their aid…two die from the bigot’s violence…one victim says, “Tell everyone on this train I love them” … a bystander steals one of the dying victims backpack…a man grabs some cloth and tries to stem the bleeding in one victim. The best and worst of humanity in a single tragic event.

I cannot imagine how the best in humanity came to the fore in such a terrible and dangerous situation just like I cannot imagine how someone could take advantage of the situation for their own greedy gains. I cannot imagine how someone justifies hatred and violence against others just like I cannot imagine people rushing in to help. That’s really not accurate, I can imagine it all and that is both a blessing and a curse.

 I try to be hopeful. I have said before I am a pessimistic optimist or an optimist pessimist, not sure which describes me best and I may vacillate between the two. I want to believe that when a terrible situation arises people will respond with the best parts of their humanity. I have seen it and heard about it happening over and over and over again. This gives me hope. This makes me feel that no matter what, humankind can find a way forward that is right and good and just. That we can evolve out of our baser instincts and into a more enlightened state of being. Those who stepped forward to confront bigotry and racism and assist victims on that MAX train are shining examples of this.

But time and time and time again I see the worst of humanity on display. Random acts of vandalism, racist rants, homophobic, Islamophobic, misogynistic rhetoric and actions directed at so many powerless people (usually by white males). Scenes like the one that played out on the MAX train. When this happens, I worry that humanity is slipping ever closer to a point of no return where our society will crash in on itself and we will revert to cave dwelling.

But just when I feel that all hope is lost I remember what Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” I remember that if I take the long view I see that human culture has progressed in our evolution toward a common humanity, toward a more just and fair world. There have been many fits and starts. Often it seems that after great progress we slip back a bit. Sociologists will tell you that this is a natural reaction. When great change and progress are made there are some who get so afraid of that which is evolving that they react in nationalistic, tribal ways hoping to stop the arc, knowing deep within that they can’t.

So, I look upon the events on that MAX train and other things happening around our country – pulling out of the Paris Accords, fake news accusations, travel bands, inappropriate sharing of sensitive information… and I see desperation. I see mostly white men trying to stem the flood of change and progress for humanity that seems to be redefining reality in ways that frightens them. They are trying to halt the arc of the moral universe and will not be able to succeed because there is only one direction it can go, forward toward a transformed humanity and a transformed world.

It is sad that we must suffer through such tragic events as the one on that MAX train. It is horrible that Rick Best and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche had to die and Micah Fletcher had to suffer such terrible wounds. It is unconscionable that the President of the United States waited three days to condemn such actions. It is heartbreaking to realize that people think the things that hateful man thinks who would do what he did on that train. But we cannot let events like this, no matter how tragic, blur our vision of what is slowly, painfully emerging as we walk the moral arc to justice and peace for all.

Hang in there you loving, peaceful, accepting, humble, righteous people. You are faithful partners of God and Christ and your efforts – our efforts, prayers, and support are helping bend the arc. The world is being transformed even if we cannot always perceive it.

God, listen to my heart. Hear my anguish. Hear my concern. Hear my plea for strength. Hear my weak prayer for those I claim as enemy. Hear my commitment to love and justice and peace. Amen.