JACKSON, Tenn. (BP) — The atrocious killing of George Floyd and subsequent events throughout the last two weeks have produced three primary emotions in my wife and me — grief, outrage and angst.
First, we are grieving. The senseless loss of life in Minneapolis evidences tension and injustice which is a reminder of the fact that we live in a broken world standing in need of reconciliation.
Second, we are outraged. Death is always sad. Murder is heinous. Watching the video of former officer Derek Chauvin and George Floyd caused our blood to boil — an immediate reaction of anger, shock, and indignation.
Third, we are filled with angst. As parents of boys — three with white skin (Jack, William and Isaac) and two with black skin (Benjamin and Miller) — we wonder about what our nation has in store for our kids. We especially wonder about that for our boys with darker skin. I write as a middle-aged white man whose black sons, even though they don’t presently realize it, are teaching me to think more deeply about issues of race.
Many are saying that now is not the time just for words, but action. They are right. I would add that it’s always the time for action. I can’t draft national policies to alter the nation’s course or write enough columns to change anybody’s mind, but I can use this awful time in the life of our country to teach what is right and good to the boys in my house.
There is much talk of a financial depression. My friend told me that he thinks we are in a cultural depression. I think he’s on to something. We are by no means doing it all right, but in this midst of our nation’s shameful cultural depression, my wife and I are seeking to teach the boys in our home a few things:
— There is right, and there is wrong. Preferences, desires, and opinions are OK, but regardless of what others or we may think, right is right, and wrong is wrong. Right is determined by God. The people of Judges 21:25 show us that what some think is right is not really right — “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” That knee on George’s neck was not just concerning; it was wrong. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12).
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Source: Baptist Press
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