NITTY GRITTY IV: BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND

Scene I

“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, la-ma sa-bach-the-ni, that is to say, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?…” Matthew, Chap. 27:45-46

Scene II

The grandfather spoke softly to his grandson sitting on his knee.  He told him the story of the Holocaust as his grandfather had told him, and when his grandfather grew silent, the little boy asked quietly, “Grandfather, do you believe in God?”  The old man sat in silence, then said, “Where was God?”

Scene III

The bombing and shelling had ceased, leaving in its wake death and destruction in all directions.  Standing before the mound of rubble that had once been her home a Palestinian woman clad in black raised both arms to the heavens and cried out in a voice pierced by pain, “Where is God?”

The belief in God for the Christians is based on the new testament of the bible, for the Muslims the Koran, and so on for all the multitudes that believe in some form of deity, spiritual force, or higher power.  The essence of the Christian religion is based on the word of Jesus Christ who said, “…And thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  And the second is like namely this.”, “Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.  There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

In the United States of America God has been inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance, the oaths of office, the courts, in money, in song, and invoked by politicians who ask God to bless America and the final words to the condemned when rendering the death penalty.  The history of the United States contradicts the idea that this nation is founded on Christian beliefs in that its building was over the bodies of Native American Indians, slaves, and indentured servants.  Once established men and women who attempted or are currently committed to establishing ideals of brotherhood and peace have been attacked, imprisoned, and often killed to maintain the oppressive status quo.

Where is God?

Surely not with our past and current leaders who have embraced the opiate of empire, pre-emptive war, torture and rendition, killer lists of humans to be murdered by unmanned drones, and “regime change” by overt and covert intrusions in the internal affairs of other countries in the belief that “the ends justify the means.”  The acronym CIA could, and some say should, be defined as Criminals In Action.  In God We Trust should read “In the Gun We Trust” as the media terrifies and sickens us with horrific scenes and endless speculations on the murder of men, women, and children by fanatics and the mentally ill with weapons of war.  Need I add the senseless murder of the poor by the poor who have been left to survive with no hope, no future, and no aid from their country, which sends billions of monetary assistance and weapons to our so-called allies.

Where is God?

Who really believes in the brotherhood of man?  Not the men and women who sit in the seats of power and whose actions, or lack thereof, drive the multitudes of humanity into the depths of despair, poverty, hunger and homelessness; not the majority of people who support the death penalty, privatized prisons, a broken justice system, and the continuation of perpetual war.

Where is God?

Do you have the answer to the question posed by the old grandfather, the Palestinian woman and all the men, women and children now dying or fleeing the horror of war and the violence?  Is it not written, “…For the love of money is the root of all evil: which some covet after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows…”  Timothy, Chap. 6:10.  Is this the underlying truth as to why we send forth our sons and daughters to be killed and wounded on the battlefields of foreign countries?

Where is God?

Since all living creatures die, perhaps the answer to that question will be made known to us after death.  Then again, perhaps Bob Dylan may be onto something when he sang, “The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”