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by Rev. Carlene Appel, MDiv., PPC
I’m still shaken by the attempted assassination of former. President Trump. I was 5yrs. old when JFK was assassinated, still remember watching it on TV, and remember little John John saluting his father’s casket as it went by. Then saw his brother RFK assassinated on TV some 5 years later. The same year I saw MLK on TV standing on the 2nd floor outside his Hotel room right before he was assassinated. Trump miraculously escaped death; it was indeed a miracle. All because he turned his head. A kill shot was diverted by mere millimeters. Thankfully, the shooter was a very bad shot.
Absorb the reality that the difference a tiny distance made & how seemingly small choices & decisions we make can change the course of our lives- forever! The fire captain who died saving his wife & daughters had no clue that where he went, sat that day, and his brave, selfless act of heroism, would be the last decisions and last things he did on earth. I’m certain his plans were to return home & resume life as he knew it. The 2 other innocent bystanders never knew how close to death they would come that day just from everyday choices to leave home, attend an event, and where they too, chose to sit. No clue that instead of going home afterward and back to life as they knew it, they’d be fighting for their lives in a trauma hospital ICU somewhere.
The blunt reality takeaway is that seemingly simple, unremarkable things and rather mundane everyday decisions can change the course of lives & history. Hopefully this is a sobering reminder to those from any political party who have been spewing hateful, uncivil rhetoric that words DO matter. Hopefully, what happened was a reality check and sober reminder to dispense with hateful words that can ignite the bullied loner battling mental illness, like the dead assassin wanna-be, to exact revenge and rage in the most violent of ways.
There is room for hearty, impassioned debates. But not raw hatred and violence because someone’s views or political opinions differ from yours. That’s pure evil and not how this great Country became the land of freedom and opportunity that immigrants willingly sacrificed much to come here, become U.S. Citizens and build a life in a new nation.
Jesus hung out with all kinds of people from all socio-economic strata and race. He didn’t pit one group against another, he elevated the status of women and made the outcast, despised woman at the well the first female evangelist. How about some Jesus-like countercultural warriors who change this dearth of people who appear to have PhDs in division by becoming multiplication masters of unity with people different from ourselves, lifting up one another, respectfully hashing out our differences, finding connection points, and working together to multiply the things that built this Country into a strong, united republic.
If you really hate this Country, you are free to leave—please DO-like today! And take your verbal vitriol with you. That’s not part of the multiplication equation I’m calling for. Neither is do- nothing chronic complaining. Cancel out the Division Doctors across the nation by becoming Multiplication Masters.
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