just cruel

“People speak sometimes about the "bestial" cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.”

― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

_____________________________________________________

I have been thinking a lot lately about cruelty

The cruelty of children separated from their parents

The cruelty of people in cages

The cruelty of SNAP benefits pulled from struggling families

The cruelty of the death penalty

The cruelty of people excluded and abused because they were born LGBTQI

The cruelty of people of color being treated violently and unjustly by police

The cruelty of ICE

Some people are just cruel

They are bullies

And they delight in abusing power

Because it is all about them. All about their wealth, their power, their ego

The other person doesn’t count.  They are nothing but an object to be used an manipulated, and even hurt, for the benefit of the abuser

They need to be cruel, for that is how they feel power

That is how their egos are stroked

They appear to have no other way of finding a sense of value

Seneca once said “all cruelty springs from weakness”

That is true

Cruel people like to act strong

Feel strong

Be seen as strong

But they are not

Their cruelty reveals their poverty of mind and soul

It is disturbing to see cruelty emerge as the modus operandi

Of our nation

Disturbing to see cruelty sitting in the seats of power

But it is even more disturbing to see so many people

Feeding off of this cruelty.

Finding delight in it

Cheering it

Finding their own sense of power through the cruelty of those they have chosen to adore

And doing so, in many cases, while evoking the name of God

Which is puzzling

Philip Pullman once made the following statement:

“…. there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away. Actually, if he is keeping out of sight, it's because he's ashamed of his followers and all the cruelty and ignorance they're responsible for promoting in his name. If I were him, I'd want nothing to do with them.”

I believe that cruelty violates the Sacred

I believe you cannot claim to “follow Jesus”, and follow the way of cruelty

It is as simple as that

Who are we going to belong to?

Which path are we going to follow?

That is the choice that confronts us this day

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, ….  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15