FALLEN FROM THE DESK OF PASTOR WAYNE
The Dentist uses Novocain to induce “numbness”. It is a bizarre experience to feel, or actually, to not feel, regardless of whether the stimulus is scratching one’s chin or undergoing root canal surgery. To be numb, to not feel: rather essential for surgery, but essentially inappropriate for the experience of life. I fear our culture is suffering from a numbness to the sanctity of life. It is no surprise with the constant images of violence, not only on the movie and TV screens, but also in the newspapers and nightly news that we are being desensitized to life and death. The technical term is ‘psychic numbing’.
The denial of death is nothing new in psychological terms, but the sociological implications are equally significant as we spin in the dizzying ecstasy of materialism and our newfound sole superpower status. The resort to violence and the denial of death are feeble attempts at immortality and detract from our ability to fully embrace of life.
Since my last newsletter article, over 100 US soldiers have died, as well as over 1000 innocent Iraqi women and children and countless thousands of Iraqi soldiers whose sad lot in life was being born in the wrong time and wrong place and having no other option but to be drafted into Saddam’s army. Our nation’s need for vengeance for 9/11 provided sufficient cause in the eyes of many to invade two countries and remove the governments that we, the USA, helped establish. It’s cost will be paid by future generations ($70 billion so far), but have we taken the time to count the full costs in human life, and not just American and British lives?
The headlines betray our xenocentric bias. The March 5 edition of the LA Times reported about a blast in the Philippines “Blast Kills U.S. Man, 22 Others.” not “Blast Kills 23 Persons, including one American”. It may not be blatantly obvious, but it is pervasive and indicative of the fact that we value our own and devalue others. It is a determination we somehow are willing to make. That we have devalued life is evident in the obscene number of murders in our own country and our inability to act against the senseless violence handguns wreaks.
It seems that as long as ‘I’ve got mine’ and all these killings are NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) then my choice of dessert becomes a more pressing question than whether war is ever justified, whether or not Jesus actually taught pacifism, and how to assure ‘justice for all’.
After my 3rd visit to the buffet table, I’ll simply have an ice cream cone of “I Hate the French Vanilla”. Then I can get online and for only $5.95 I can order the Iraqi Most Wanted Manhunt Playing Cards to entertain family and friends. Forget the immorality of war, it’s the hottest selling item on the Internet, as the war all becomes just one big game with human life.
Let’s try not to think about the young Iraqi boy and the US cluster bomb that killed both of his parents and severed both his arms off. Do we now feel safer? With no parents and no arms, have we stopped to wonder who will wipe away his tears? [Did you feel that? Recognize that sick feeling in your gut? Did your heart just break a little more? It’s called angst and it shows we are really alive and can still feel the suffering of the world.] The numbness is wearing off.
It is my belief that the power of the Resurrection must break through our individual and societal ‘psychic numbing”. The resurrection of Christ calls for a renewed zeal for the sanctity of life and challenges us to nonviolently change any and all systems which contribute to the cycles of violence and death. The resurrection gives us a renewed sense of identity and purpose and opens to us again, the sheer wonder of existence itself.
So cry with the family and friends of 23-year old American Rachel Corrie who was crushed to death beneath an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to stop the demolition of a Palestinian home. Then join the efforts of those working to end the practice of “collective punishment” and land confiscation.
So wail with the families of the 82 Palestinian civilians killed in the West Bank and Gaza during March 2003, a new single month record and the additional wounding of 616 persons. Then get to work somewhere, somehow creating peace. Peace is the way to justice and security of all. Enjoy and exercise the true freedom that comes from God, not from soldiers. As the resurrection of Christ breaks into our lives and through our numbness, we can participate in the eternal impact of God’s love that does not let death have the last word.