Protocols and boundaries are set in order that people can live together in harmony. Beneficial boundaries do place restrictions on people, but they exist to positively serve all the people. A traffic light might demand that one stop, but to ignore this restriction is to put oneself and others in the possibility of danger. A nation sets protocols in insure the well-being of its population. In the last two weeks we have witnessed via electronic media the ignoring of verbal and behavioral protocols that we generally agree are representative of our country. The breaching of protocols has occurred in the legislative, the judiciary, the executive areas of our national structure and in the important entertainment sector of the country. All four are important to our well-being. All four exploded in the news media on last two weeks. So numbing were the egregious behaviors in words and actions that when they appeared in entertainment we were stunned because the arts had not escaped contamination. But we refused to see its connection to the viciousness in the legislative branch or the behind-the-scenes conspiracy theory meddling that threatens the integrity of the Supreme Court in the judiciary branch or a thoughtless ad lib in the executive branch which could have caused meditation on an annihilative red button somewhere on the globe. For a week, our attention has been riveted on an altercation between two men in the field of entertainment—who cannot destroy the world. We did not burn with indignation at the foibles of those who can destroy our country and the world. The media and our conversations have been focused on inconsequential stories in the sphere of entertainment while our country slowly sinks into darkness precipitated by national leaders who ignore common decency and the following of protocols that will not only preserve this country but the world. We are appalled and fearful of the violence of young people across the country (not confined to the urban sector). They are learning their heinous behaviors from the older generation. Our words and behaviors are teaching them and others how to be viciousness and to dismiss boundaries and protocols.
All this chaos comes amid religious holidays. Purim commemorates the courage of a woman’s determination to speak to a ruler about sparing the lives of her people. Ramadan teaches practice in self-discipline, self-control, self-sacrifice, and attention to the less fortunate. Lent and Easter teach self-sacrifice for greater intimacy with God and victory over death by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Each of these holidays encompasses prayer and fasting. We are encouraged to looked upward and be transformed by holy intimacy and the care of our neighbors. Attention to these holy days does not make us better than others but enables us to see the need for prayer and fasting, not for ritual, but for the transformation of our inward beings and our outward behaviors towards our neighbors.
Let us pray…
Dorothy Watson Tatem, D.Min., ACC
Senior Associate
Next Step Associates, LLC
Cassandra W. Jones, Ed.D.
CEO & President
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