Are You Righteous?

Are You Righteous?

The title for this blog just popped into my head immediately when I chose this verse.  If it was a message for me all I can say is “I’m a work in progress”.

There has been a lot happening in the news lately.  It seems like the country is handling once crisis after the other.  We have seen natural disasters, man-made catastrophes, gun violence, all while the world is not at peace with the wars going on. There is so much happening it is not hard to choose something to write about.  Writers tend to write what they are most passionate about.  What they can relate to that will hopefully not offend the masses.  You definitely can’t please everyone.  Live long enough and you’ll realize at times, you can’t even please anyone.

One hot topic in the media lately seems to have the underlying odor of “injustice.”  Why is there so much right and wrong, approval and disapproval, understanding and misunderstanding when it comes down to the basic assumption of what is just.

We started off with black and white televisions making it more understandable why folks saw everything in black and white.  But times have evolved and it seems to be just a wishful prayer that people, opinions, views, outlooks, commentaries, and assumptions would progress too.  We can now see things in color.  Imagine for a moment, has it helped us to truly see things as they really are? 

I ask a lot of questions, right?  Well I do because I don’t have all the answers and I’m trying to provoke people to think.  I am a thinker.  People see a mad look on my face and they think I’m mad.  No those who know me know I’m just in deep thought.  I’m a thinker.

Getting back to my point we literally have the ability to see news reports on television or via other mediums in color but we still often tend to see things in black and white.    

Main question:  “Has having a more diverse color spectrum in our viewing choices made us any more diverse in the court of public opinion?”  I think not.

How can a tragedy like the Trayvon Martin case not bring up the race card?  Now I will tell you a black chick sparked me to write this post.  My original next post was going to be on are we anymore civil during the 50^th anniversary of the civil rights movements in America?  I’m a civil rights baby because I was born in 1963.  I think I identify with the civil rights movement because it was a very hot topic while I was in the womb and during the year I was born.  I want recognition for us, the civil right babies 50 years later.  They promote the baby boomers, they promote the babies born during different wars, they promote the babies born during times of catastrophic events, they promote the babies born during a year when a country had a major even happen.  What happened to main stream media promoting the Civil Rights babies?  Where are they now?  Are they being judged by the content of their character or still be judged by the color of their skin?  There were babies of all ethnicities born during the civil rights era.  How many little black boys sit down with little white boys, how many little black girls sit down with little black girls?  

It is not like we don’t have a template to measure our successes in regards to race relations.  MLK “I Have a Dream” speech made some very thought provoking statements we can turn in to questions.  I feel the one of the most notorious statements he ever made was “an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Exodus 23 in the Old Testament of the Bible:  “Laws of Justice and Mercy”

23 “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.

² “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. 

I read a very disheartening account of the Trayvon Martin case today written in the blog of a news anchor.  From briefly reading her blog and her Twitter feeds it appears she has a huge identity crisis that she doesn’t even recognize she has.  My opinion is the small subset of society that she apparently identifies with doesn’t look like her and they are just pleased someone of color is attacking other folks of color. Yes, I must admit it serves as a mighty blow coming from someone who you would look at outwardly and be totally wrong about their views, however, in her case not really. She is definitely breaking stereotypes by not being subjected to being predictable based on the almond color of her skin.  

She is trying to be the voice for the part of society that has shut her out based on her race.  Her hurt and pain is exemplified in her writing.  Since pictures normally say a thousand words it appears her demeanor in her photo displays her disgust.  Thankfully one person commenting on her post went paragraph by paragraph to respectfully disagree with her far right views, especially of stereotypes of blacks and our black leaders.   I hope Trayvon Martin’s mother never has the misfortune to being privy to read her post.  

Justice should not be about black and white.  It should be about right from wrong.  There should be an overlying law that supersedes actions which are wrong that other law and statues condone.  However, that would only open up a bigger can of worms.  

I really wish Trayvon’s friend would have called 911 on his behalf so the police would have been alerted Zimmerman was still following him so they could have rung his phone back to let him know to get his behind back in his car and wait on them as he was instructed to do.  From all I’ve seen on television we all bleed the same color blood.  Why did a young man have to die because someone else failed to follow instructions clearly given to him.  If Zimmerman felt he was in the right why didn’t he just stand down and let the police deal with the situation or contact other community members on the neighborhood watch he claims to have been a part of and get assistance in finding out Trayvon’s true identity?  Why did he feel it necessary to play Mr. Macho and take justice in his own hands?  

Do we have so much violence nowadays because we have so many cowards?  My grandmother used to always tell me only cowards carry guns.  

The one thing I can say because it is a very complex situation is: "Lord please have mercy on our souls and make them colorblind."

To answer the initial question:  “What is Righteousness” Wikipedia defines it as:

“ Righteousness (also called rectitude) is an important theological concept in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism (Dharma), and Zoroastrianism. It is an attribute that implies that a person's actions are justified, and can have the connotation that the person has been "judged" or "reckoned" as leading a life that is pleasing to the god/s portrayed in these belief systems.”

Let’s live a life pleasing to God.  When someone tells you the right thing to do, do it, otherwise as we can see it gives the devil the opportunity to tap dance all over it.