What Do You See?

I would love to have a heart to heart talk with former police officer Derek Chauvin. I want to look Mr. Chauvin in the eye and ask him one question. If given a chance I would ask him what he saw under his knee. What did he think about the person he knelt on for over eight minutes? Did he even see a person?

I would also love to have a heart to heart with Amy Cooper. I have three questions for Ms. Cooper. First, I would like to know if she knew and understood the leash law that applied to the area of Central Park where she was walking her dog. I checked woofadvisor.com which lists The Ramble, where the incident took place, as one of the "Areas of Central Park where dogs must be on leash at all times..." The site also shows a map of areas in the park that are dog friendly. Did Ms. Cooper know ahead of time that she should have had her dog on a leash? That leads to my second question: Will she pay the fine (if any) for not having her dog on a leash?

My third question for Ms. Cooper is similar to the question I want to ask Mr. Chauvin. What did she see? Did she see a human being simply trying to enjoy a day of bird watching? Did she see a person who only asked that she obey the rules as I suspect he would have had he had a dog with him? Did she see a fellow citizen of Earth? Was she practicing some strange form of social distancing?

I likely will never have that heart to heart with officer Chauvin nor is it likely I'll have one with Ms. Cooper. I can have a heart to heart with you, the reader. May I ask, what did you see? I ask this especially to my brothers and sisters in Christ. What did you see? Did you only see rioters and looters? Those who did these things were WRONG. Did you see the people? Did you see the hearts crying out? Did you see people created in God's image? Yes some of them did wrong. Such is the nature of man which the Bible calls fallen. The Bible also calls you to reach out in God's love. I suppose what you see lets you off the hook? Not if you see what God sees.

By the way here is a website listing all of Central Park’s dog laws along with a PDF of The Dog Owner Guide to Central Park

Are You An Impostor?

Are you an impostor? I'm guessing probably not. Would you tell me if you were? Try this on for size. Do you suffer from impostor syndrome? I honestly never thought about this until the pandemic. After receiving a Zoom invite, I sank into a large pool of fear. The upcoming meeting was the first for the team that would orchestrate returning to work at the day job once the state gave the okay. Something just didn't feel right. I felt like I didn't belong in this meeting. I felt like an impostor.

Have you ever been there?

A quick internet search revealed that Impostor Syndrome is common and that it comes in different forms. At its core it involves doubt. We doubt our past experiences, writing them off as a result of luck not skill or talent. This doubt feeds fear and anxiety as we face the possibility that we'll be revealed as being a fraud. Does that sound familiar?

As with any problem, the internet is full of answers and techniques for dealing with impostor syndrome. I'm sure many of them work. A good number of them don't. I know two things that always work: prayer and truth. Prayer is our connection with God and the Bible promises that God will equip us for the task ahead. So when we stop to enjoy connecting with God, we can also ask how He plans to equip us to glorify His name while standing strong in the face of the challenge.

God also uses prayer time as an opportunity to reveal truth, especially the truth of who we are. People of faith are not impostors. We are children of the living God. Our lives are in His hands and He is orchestrating things according to His perfect will. And like any good Father, God is here to help. He wants us to succeed and will always put us in the right place at the right time.

I prayed and read the Bible before the meeting. I then brainstormed, preparing with a quieted mind under God's leadership. In the end I was over prepared and during follow up meetings I received compliments for my contributions. What happened proved I am not an impostor. I thank God for opening my eyes and for preparing me for a very productive meeting.

Why is the Message Often Lost?

It really stung! Someone I truly love and admire said it. "All lives matter," he said with a shrug as he turned away. He caught me off guard and I honestly don't remember how we even found ourselves talking about it. Taken aback by his comment I couldn't even pull my thoughts together and fear that my response...my reaction was not very coherent. Whatever my message was, I let it get lost because I couldn't keep my normally even keel. And as I watch today’s riots happening in many of our cities, I wonder if the message will once again get lost as it did that evening in my friend's living room and as it did back in 2017 when the NFL gave in to pressure, cracking down on players who chose to take a knee to protest police brutality.

Now those who wish not to face the truth can choose to focus on something else. They can (rightfully) complain about the destruction, about the thefts and about the violence aimed at our cities' police officers. (To those who seek confrontation remember when thrown, a bottle can't tell the difference between a good cop and a bad one.) A riot changes the focus as we (rightfully) become concerned about the innocent business owners (some of whom are black) whose dreams have gone up in smoke. The story now is about violence, as those who do not want to admit the bigger problem find it easier to complain about "these people," allowing their anger over one wrong to keep them from dealing with the other wrong.

Here's where the focus should remain. An officer of the law put his knee on the neck of a human being. A man begged for his life for six minutes as another man knelt on him. (Odd how taking a knee has moved from a controversial statement of dissatisfaction to a controversial way to rob a man of his life.) For two or three minutes after George Floyd stopped talking, that knee remained on his neck. After eight and a half minutes of someone kneeling on him, a person, a citizen of the United States, an American was DEAD. And we now have two different autopsies, one saying that George Floyd died of asphyxiation the other that pressure on his neck contributed to his death. In other words, he died because he couldn’t breath!

Before we deal with race, there is a question we must ask and we can’t let what is happening during these protests distract us. Ask yourself: Do you want a country where a man (with or without a badge) thinks it’s okay to kneel on another (handcuffed) man? If you think this is wrong, don't let the real message get lost.

See also:

Medical examiner and family-commissioned autopsy agree: George Floyd's death was a homicide

Do You Stand With or Against Kaepernick?

Taking A Knee, Losing The Message: Why the NFL Should Stop Kneeling