Voices are being raised from “occupied” Washington as DC’s citizens struggle with both national and international challenges … even gutting tragedies.
National Guard members roam our parks and streets looking lost while aware they are being used as theatrical props. The darkening picture seems rooted in misguided institutional violence with authoritarian abuse of our Constitution and basic standards of compassionate caring for those at risk.
There is a despairing conflict in our hearts when we see the reports of priceless unsold piles of grain in Minnesota while at the same time digital photos from Gaza reveal dump trucks piled with body bags of children, mothers, and other non-combatants even after a declared cease fire.
There is no sheltering protection from Western-made bombs, weapons or diplomacy.
This is a conflicted season when we rightly honor our American veterans, many who are family members, while grieving victims, some of whom we know in conflict zones.
Soon we give thanks as a nation while many children, elderly and veterans are hungry because federal support systems are threatened during a congressional “shutdown” (at the time of this writing).
Unprotected harvests here in the USA lie outside of granaries, and there in Palestine thousands of unhoused children are veritable “grain” who are the endangered “seed of Abraham,” per Galatians 3.
The core values of all faiths and our laws and Constitutional amendments are betrayed by misguided politics that perpetrate both spiritual and physical hunger and thirst for those in need.
The Beatitudes “blessed” poor, persecuted, hungry, imprisoned, merciful and peacemakers, and Christ’s Law of “loving neighbor (and stranger)” as ourselves seem so often mocked and forgotten.
How can our souls accommodate this conflict and loss of dignity when the work of farmers and laborers goes unrecompensed and soldiers are traumatized by orders of their governments to target civilians?
The moral core of our existence as humans has been challenged and in cases lost. God’s children cry out in grief and despair for our lost humanity along with loved ones. We must declare enough and “never again” for all people of equal worth no matter their religion, race or nationality.
There is renewed courage and hope when we witness millions of Americans and non-violent Israelis and Palestinians in streets and campuses expressing resistance working together with acts of good will.
There is movement with raised voices for the reinstatement of constitutional and biblical core values in the urging of political leaders to guarantee livelihoods, health care and human rights.
May each one of us from all political parties and faith communities continue to inspire hope though compassionate caring expressed for those suffering neighbors near to us as well as those far away.
Thomas Getman is a Luverne native and a member of the Rock County Hall of Fame and the Luverne Alumni Hall of Fame. His advocacy group in Washington, D.C., specializes in international, UN and nongovernmental organization affairs.
