Windy is the watchword for this Tuesday. Walking in 24 mile per hour wind will take your hat right off of your head unless you have a Tilley Hat that has the famous wind strap…that you can place under your chin. As I watch and listen to the George Floyd murder trial I am struck, once again, how most of us do not breath the rarified air of the political heads or the philosophical elite of our day. We live much of our life battling and struggling and some despair regarding our environment and our possibilities for a better future. We go to the local market to purchase our necessary groceries and we encounter our friends and neighbors there. We are happy to have enough money to buy some groceries and many of us vividly remember what it was like to not have funds for food. There is a large group of Americans that are not treated like Americans. Many hard working poor people feel that they are living in a different world than those who have resources and education and hope for a bright future.
Have you ever been a member of a group that is not seen? Have you ever spoken from your heart and the people who you were speaking to averted their eyes or checked their watches or smiled condescendingly… Do you know how it feels to have been treated wrongly or bullied or abused…and the actions are supported by the hierarchy of management and administration due to your not being a member of their preferred class?
Have you ever spoken to powerful people and your complaints or issues were subsequently explained away by a marginalization of you? At times it seems that the poor and the marginalized are, indeed, living a different reality and subject to different rules than the privileged majority. Now I have felt all of these things…and I am white. I understand how people feel when they speak and are not heard…when they are present and are not seen…when they are wronged and their managers and supervisors and political leaders support the wrong that they are undergoing.
Christ spoke to the poor and the drunkards and the women of the night and those who had been forgotten by the society of his day. Jesus did not ride in a golden chariot or adorn himself in silk and satin robes. He sought those who were not seen by the recognized religious scholars. ‘Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have pity on us! When he saw them, he said, Go, show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed.’ Luke 17: 11 – 14.
Unhappiness abounds in our present world. There is such a dichotomy between different peoples of both social and ethnic and economic backgrounds in our country. It has been said that cocaine is widely abused by many who work on Wall Street…as they make millions for their clients and for themselves. Opiate addiction is an epidemic throughout our nation. There is no question that many soccer mothers and fathers enjoy each others fellowship and company while being on a regiment of calming or stimulating drugs…to help them get thought their day in the suburbs and the requirements of an up-scale lifestyle. Alcohol addiction is the not talked about killer among the upper class and the academia and the power players in our world.
Mr. George Floyd had some drugs in his system and he was a dedicated christian who when he greeted you would clasp your hand with both of his. Mr. Floyd was 6 feet and 3 inches tall…a big guy…it has been said. I am 6 feet and 3 inches tall…and I would not hurt a flea… He had struggled with drugs for years…and he loved Jesus…and Jesus…loved him…
The Jazz Man 
A while back I went to a theatre performance by Ridding Lights, in one of the sketches they performed, Kings, rich and powerful men, (at the time of Christ) strutted onto the stage When the Lord come it would be they that he would seek out. Of course, in the end, he chose Josef, the sketch ended with a line from Josef, “Who Me!”
I have a friend that is badly crippled, he goes around in a specially adapted wheelchair. In the pub most simply ignore him, they are embarrassed by him. Yet I have known many loud, foul-mouth men in my time, but because their bones are straight and clean they are accepted and tolerated, Most of us do not know just how lucky we are to have good health.
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