Aug 5th, 2020: Collateral Damage
There is always collateral damage in a war or a pandemic. As I
listen to people who come and talk to me, I have learned how stressful
life has become for them due to Covid-19. We all know about implications
on many health care frontline workers and their families. There are
many others as well, and the damages they have to sustain are also
costly and painful.
It is about many single
parents who have to stay home and work while having no support for their
young children. Their work performance impacted negatively. Their
relationships with the kids are challenging because the young ones don't
know why mom or dad cannot be or play with them. These single parents
have no other option. One told me she has to do her reports for work
late at night after her kids go to bed. She is also worried about
getting sick and not knowing who is going to take care of them because
she has no family here.
It is about a young
police officer who is married to a friend of mine in Oklahoma City.
Covid-19 plus all of the racial tension on the street has taken a toll
on him and his wife. It is hard enough to do a dangerous job knowing
that you are exposed to badly behaved and sick people daily. It is not
that easy for him because he is a quiet guy and believes in what he
does. Having the knowledge that some people hate him because of his
uniform. Some even threatened his life. His kids are in junior high
school, and they have been damaged emotionally by the calling to
condemn their father's profession daily in the news.
One
more casualty of this time is the accuracy of the news. Social Media
platforms have become sources for "fake news" There is so much floating
on the internet these days, and it requires tremendous wisdom to
discern what we read. That is a discipline all of us might want to
consider before we share whatever we read. The lack of accuracy and the
bias in the mainstream media doesn't help either. We don't have to go
very far to see that. If we have two TVs on at the same time, one
assigned to Fox News, and the other to CNN News. Watching them at the
same time is like watching a ping-pong match of the truth in the news.
There
is emotional fatigue that might lead to detrimental indifference
towards what is going on in the world today. How often have we heard
people saying: "I don't watch the news anymore." People withdraw and go
silent. The real majority today in the US and Canada is the silent
majority. They come from various racial, cultural, religious, and
economic backgrounds.
Proverb 21: 16
"A man who wanders from the way of understanding
Will rest in the assembly of the dead."
James 3: 17
"But
the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to
reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere."
