Years ago, I stood on a street corner in Oxford, England, a Broad Street juncture, watching people pile flowers smack dab in the middle of an intersection, which meant the street was closed to vehicle traffic. If memory serves me correctly, I’d say there were several hundred bouquets stacked to a hip-level height. “What’s going on?” I asked a passerby. “That’s the spot where the three martyrs were burned at the stake,” was the reply. “When did that happen?” I asked, confessing my ignorance of English history. “Coming up on 500 years ago, this day October 16th, 1555,” was the reply. I remember thinking that it was about time for the locals to get over it, move on, forgive and forget. While forgiveness is always possible, I suppose, the memory of some injuries imprints an indelible stain.
Such is the case with the Oxford martyrs put to death for apostasy by the Catholic hegemony. Hugh Latimer, a British clergyman, Bishop of Worcester, a Protestant, before he was burned at the stake, turned to his fellow bishop, Nicholas Ridley, and reportedly said: “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as shall never be put out.” Before being set ablaze, Ridley reportedly prayed, "Oh, heavenly Father, I give unto thee most hearty thanks that thou hast called me to be a professor of thee, even unto death. I beseech thee, Lord God, have mercy on this realm of England, and deliver it from all her enemies." The remaining months of my stay in England, I learned just how deeply sectarian bigotry and hatred had divided that society, wounds that to this day refuse to fully heal. Of course, the rupture between Protestants and Catholics is one small example of uncompromising divisions throughout history and worldwide, sectarian violence being a major theme of humanity since Neanderthals tussled with Homo sapiens over jurisdiction of sacred hunting grounds.
Come on, you must have noticed the embittered ideological schism our country has undergone since Trump strutted onto the presidential stage. If you don’t recognize the sharp differences among our political voices, our religious leaders, our community leaders, and our media (especially social media) mavens, then you are a victim bumping through the world with a knife sticking between your shoulder blades, unaware that you are bleeding to death.
Perhaps that exsanguination image is too dire. Perhaps not. Certainly, we have had left leaners vs. right leaners in America since the inception of our republic. What’s more certain, however, is that Americans have not had such sharp destructive differences since, I don’t know, the Vietnam War? Perhaps all the way back to the Civil War?
What is happening to us has been described as an existential crisis by some pundits and theorists. The crevasse that was always there opened a gap larger than our ability to negotiate over or around it. One portion of America expresses itself as wanting lower taxes, fewer immigrants, and fewer government regulations over their lives. Another large segment wants better social programs, protections for disenfranchised people, and suitable medical coverage for all citizens. And yet other fragments of our people advocate for every slot on the political spectrum. So how do we keep our republic healthy and robust? How do we embrace each other in the breach between conservatives and liberals? Is democracy itself being tested? Is the soul of America being tested? Yep, it sure is. Have our values shifted? Down deep, probably not, but the present tense has produced a squabble that threatens our ability to tolerate one another. We can no longer find common ground, a safe zone in which to discuss our differences. We use vile and profane language to characterize our opponents. To many, the sight of a MAGA baseball cap is enough to arouse thoughts of assault and battery. To many others, an Obama bumper sticker elicits an immediate urge to perform a vulgar hand gesture.
It is not simply Democrat vs. Republican, either. It is something more ominous. Yes, it is tribal. It is a divide similar to what Catholics vs. Protestants felt after the reformation in Europe. It is the Bloods vs. the Crips at the height of the LA gang wars. It is the global war of Shia vs. Sunni. It is not easy to reconcile, but there it festers in the middle of the American experience, just as it infects most other places in our broken world.
“Forgive him/her/them, Father. For he/she/they knows not what he/she/they does.”
“Forgive them, Father. For the liberals (or the conservatives) know not what they do.”
“Forgive me, Father, and allow me to do the right thing each day and purge all the hatred in my heart.”
Simple answer solving a far too complicated problem?
Yep. Way too simple.
Forgiveness, easier said than done. Start a new day without the burdens of hatred. Like letting out a deep breath, just expel the hatred. Take bouquets and give them to the ones whom you formerly hated. Say, “Here, these are for you.” And walk away lighter than ever before.
Okay, I agree, it is not realistic for the Hatfields and McCoys to meet in the church basement an attitude adjustment over a Jell-O salad. In order to break the patterns of hatred and division, more is needed than an arranged hug and a coffee date to talk over differences. Kindness is welcome, but it is not enough. Singing “Kumbaya” is not enough, never was. But, let’s face it, whatever we have been doing over the millennia will only invite self-destruction. By that I mean the weapons we now employ are capable of such monstrous annihilation that everything, people, critters, plants, and the world on which they live, will melt away in a few exchanges of doomsday salvos. Oh, it probably will take a few years, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, after the missile exchange before everything (including cockroaches) is dead—a barren planet on which no birds sing.
Really.
Last I heard, the Doomsday Clock read two minutes to midnight. Two minutes! In a world of Trumps, Putins, Jinpings, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Sauds, Kim Jong-uns, and that madman running the Philippines (the guy who claimed God is “stupid.”) what possible outcome is likely?
It is down to this: either we give peace and forgiveness a chance or…. Or else! Sorry, I know that sounds trite and mawkish, but, folks, we are tied to a stack of kindling and the above-mentioned Bozos are dancing around us with a lit torch.