Conversation Point

What Not to Talk About

I just finished reading, To Find Out Something Only Dead Men Know, an article by Christopher Cooper posted today at Common Dreams, a web site dedicated to liberal news and views. Mr. Cooper compares watching Ken Burns' The War, a documentary about World War II, to watching the drama we're funding in Iraq unfold on the news each night. But a lot of what Ken Burns included in his footage is not shown on any network broadcast. Close up, wars all look pretty much the same. Bloodied bodies, ripped apart, strewn over the landscape like grotesque piñata fillings at a child's birthday party. Fuel-driven fire being shot into caves to flush out the enemy. Civilians dismembered and burned beyond recognition. Perhaps Burns is allowed this time of truth-telling because it is PBS and they make a habit of doing these sort of things. Maybe years of distance breeds enough emotional numbness for us to be able to at least glance at such horrific images.

Most likely it is because we can claim moral distance from what happened before we were born, before we were able to vote, before we had any say in what went on in our own country, a country founded on the belief that the government should be of, by and for the people. If Brian Williams, Katie Couric or Charlie Gibson ever makes an attempt to show us where our war tax is going, who and how it is killing, we may begin to think differently about this whole, messy business of invading other countries. We may hold the Bush administration responsible for the choices it has made on our behalf, and therefore, hold ourselves responsible for believing, if only a little, that this war was justified in any remotely sensible way.

But we don't want to see these images in our homes, and we especially don't want to harbor the chance that our children would catch a glimpse of mutilated moms and dads being cried over by young, orphaned children. We don't want to talk about what doesn't concern us on a daily basis, what doesn't threaten our lives or our families' lives, what makes us squirm at our very core.

War isn't the only thing we aren't supposed to talk about these days. Religion, politics, gay rights, poverty, the decline of education in our central cities, our crumbling US economy, global warming. Pick a topic, any topic, that demands some conscious awareness, educational consideration and a sense of the impact it makes on real, live human beings. Most folks have an opinion, but that opinion isn't based in their own understanding. It is based on media images and words pointedly honed to a fine-tuned simplicity for easy digestion and dismissal by the general public. Either a whole lot of people don't care anymore, or we have come to believe that caring is too hard, too costly and not our concern to begin with.

But Jesus would have us believe and behave otherwise.

As a child, hearing scripture read from the pulpit fascinated me, compelled me to listen for truths that transcended culture and time. I wanted to be right there when Jesus stood to speak with the crowds on grassy knolls, in front of the Temple and when he listened to them over family meals in their own homes. I wanted to search the faces of those Jesus confronted on their own turf, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, Scribes and Chief Priests. What would it be like to see them sidle up to Jesus and his disciples, carrying on a conversation with some locals, ready to interrupt, set the trap and wait for Jesus to step into it? Then, the tables would be turned, effortlessly, and these religious men would be left speechless in their tracks. That would be something to see.

But as a child I was only aware of the drama, the desire to see good triumph over evil in the most profoundly felt ways. I wasn't aware of the sadness that probably also accompanied Jesus' interactions within his community. The people who could most effect change in their world were desiring nothing more than to keep the crowds from simmering out of control, lest Rome get wind of the troubles and limit their power even more. The Temple leadership and Rome kept an uneasy truce. If that was disrupted, the future would become even more uncertain. Using Jewish law and the prophets to keep the peace was their job. Jesus knew where his colleagues stood, politically and theologically.

However, Jesus knew the time had come to talk about what before had been kept silent. Good News is hard to contain, once you have heard it and understood it.

We have heard the Good News, and, hopefully, we understand it. We can, and should talk about all the things happening in the world. With our friends, within our families, with our children. With our council representatives, our congresswomen and men, our senators, our governors, and yes, with our president. We must talk about all the things that are difficult to think about, let alone say out loud. What if this war in Iraq, this war that has already outlasted World War II, doesn't end for years? How will this affect our communities, our economy, our educational system? What happens if President Bush decides one war isn't enough and he wants to pick a fight with Iran before he leaves office? Whether we like it or not, we need to start talking to each other about things that matter.

Please remember, we have heard the Good News. Do you understand what that means? Whether we like it or not, we have a unique perspective as people of faith, as well as a unique responsibility to be ready for the Pharisees and their buddies when they come sneaking up behind us, ready to make us fall flat on our faces. It is time to pay attention, educate ourselves and be ready to confront those who would rather keep us and our faith perspective silent.

posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 6:58 PM