This morning I was thinking about yesterday's tragedy at Fort Hood. While praying for the family and friends of those killed and injured, as well as the spirit of someone who would do such a thing, I was reminded of another murder, the first murder.
In Genesis 4:10, after Cain killed his brother Abel, God said to Cain, "What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground!"
Cain did not consider himself his brother's keeper, but In God's heart, Cain was his brother's keeper. Likewise, you and I are our brother's keeper. Jesus said we are to do unto our neighbor as we would do unto ourselves. Our neighbor is not only those who think and act the way we do, our neighbor includes those who do not look like us, think like us, talk like us, and act like us.
This idea of neighbor is taking shape as our world rushes toward a global community. A global community brings the opportunity to uncircle the wagons, remove the masks and get to know someone you might never have met before. It is an opportunity for real growth. At the same time, I am suspicious of our motives to touch someone on the other side of the world, while many of us live in gated communities. Fort Hood is a gated community.
We cannot lock the enemy out when one of our greatest struggles has always been esteeming others more than ourselves. Gated communities will not protect us when the enemy is us.
Psychologists point to family as the shaping crucible where our patterns of behavior toward our self and others are formed. The fabric of family has been unraveling since Cain and Abel. Now we are close to finally discarding that old moral compass, and with the dissolution of any absolute standards of right and wrong, we stand on the threshold of a brave new world.
Every woman and every man can now decide for them self what is right and wrong. Like Cain, we can justify to our self why we do what we do, despite the pain and suffering it brings to others. We have become masters at the game of accuse and excuse, refusing to believe that we are the problem.
Consider all of the pain and suffering in this world we know nothing about. The smaller our world becomes the greater our exposure and awareness of the suffering of others. What will we do with the suffering of others if we are capable of suddenly going on a rampage and killing the people we work with? We are all too aware of these killing sprees; at work, in schools, in our homes. Breaking down the barriers that divide us is a wonderful thing, but until we can hold each other gently, we are helpless, regardless of whether our coming world community is gated or not.
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