Pointing the Finger vs. Extending the Hand
Fr. Kelley J. Lackey II, St. Andrews Episcopal Church
Friday, January 14, 2011
Whenever a human tragedy like the shootings in Arizona happens, it is not long before blame begins to be passed around. It seems that if we can just figure out who is responsible we can do a couple of things. First, we can somehow avoid its happening again. Second, and more to my point, we can somehow purge ourselves of any responsibility for the matter. Of course, neither of these things is accomplished, and the buck just continues to be passed around.
Passing the buck is a fundamental mark of fallen human nature. In the second Judeo-Christian creation story, one of the first things that happens after the fall is a little buck-passing.
“They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ He said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent tricked me, and I ate.’” (Genesis 3:8-13)
By being able to wash our hands of a situation and point our fingers in another direction, we deny the corporate nature of sin and the fact that everyone bears some responsibility for the fallenness in the world.
Acknowledgement that we all participate in destructive, dehumanizing systems is the beginning of atonement. Repentance of our part, through confession of sin, is the way the church has continued to try to live into redemption.
Unfortunately, looking at sin often turns into a laundry list of specific actions by particular people, while denying the larger cloud of corporate sin. It becomes a self-righteous grab by our egos to try to prove to ourselves the ways by which there is always someone more responsible than we are.
As far as the Arizona tragedy is concerned, the fact of the matter is that there is a mass of mentally ill human beings in our country with no place to go and no one to help. A large majority of the homeless that I have dealt with in several churches are mentally ill and do not have the resources, support or supervision needed to maintain their well-being as well as the well-being of others who may cross their paths.
If there is any political blame to go around, we can look at an unholy alliance of fiscal conservatives who want fewer resources and government intervention going to mental health, as well as social liberals who do not want to impede the “freedom” of folks by having them institutionalized. We can also look at the ways that each and every one of us turns a blind eye to the plight of others around us because we think that it is not any of our business, it is not our responsibility, or we simply do not want to get our hands dirty.
Did the political rhetoric and talking heads on radio and TV cause the tragedy in Arizona? Yes, but not completely. Did lax gun laws? Yes, but not completely. What about the shooter whose mind seems to be twisted and out of touch with reality? Yes, but not completely. When it comes right down to it, we are all responsible for tragedies like the one in Tucson. We all participate in a system that is fallen and twisted away from the mutual love and regard that God intended for us to have for each other. We perpetuate a system that points the finger rather than extends the hand.
Until we recognize this, and turn toward a different system, a system that conveys the compassion of God, the buck will continue to be passed, fingers will continue to be pointed, and we will all be less than the people God has created us to be. We need to be able to set our political and personal agendas and misguided sense of self aside in this culture long enough to see that we all have a little blood on our hands.