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Glamorizing Injustice

Glamorizing Injustice

Last updated on: May 5, 2016 at 11:55 am by John O'Keefe

Glamorizing Injustice 2016-05-05T11:55:06-05:00 John O'Keefe

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A-PATHEOS-TNJ8.fw We have allowed injustice to thrive in American, and around the world, to satisfy the greed of those seeking power over others. I say allowed, because we could stand against injustice, but as a whole we don’t. If someone feels they are being treated wrongly, it is not our place to tell them their feelings are wrong – if they believe they are in the middle of injustice, we should as how we can help. But we don’t. Instead we try to explain how they are not seeing it right. The results? The death and suffering of millions of people all over the world, the raping of our environment while a select few become rich beyond imagine. When we glamorize injustice, in any form, when we turn a blind eye to injustice, when we see injustice as a proper response, or ignore it, we fall into the trap of perpetuating all forms of violence. We should be standing against injustice by encouraging openness, passion, a free expression of self in community, and stop worrying about who uses what toilet.

In the Hebrew Collective Narrative, Habakkuk complains to the Divine, “Why do You make me look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.” The Divines reply? ‘Just wait. Some big changes are coming, and by the way – you may not like them.’ [paraphrased]

Much like Habakkuk, many have come to the realization that the current system is broken, and many believe it is broken beyond repair [me being one of those]. In the past we have used the idea of “small changes” to “fix” the broken system, but that fix never came; the system become more broken as the fixes blocked out many seeking change. Because of this many have come to the conclusion that incremental change will not work. Instead, we seek large, drastic, earth shifting change – change that will upend the system, and move it back to the people – yes, you could say we are demanding a revolution.

As we look around, both global and local, the expressions of injustice stare us in the face. Sometimes we turn a blind eye to it all; because there is so much injustice it is hard to take it all in. We find injustice when we see the imbalance of wealth, famine, LGBTQA issues, human and environmental exploitation, corruption, pollution, and so much more. Injustice is the biggest issue facing us as a species. Our place should be to challenge injustice at every point, yet we don’t. The few who benefit from this injustice have convinced many that they too can come along and join in the greed fest that creates the injustice. Injustice centers on the greed of the few, and the cost of the many. In scripture, the Divine speaks out against injustice at every level. If we claim to be followers of the Divine, of the teachings of Jesus, we need to be a voice standing opposed to all forms of injustice. Our words, our actions, should resonate with the world around us.

Not even close to being irrelevant, injustice dominates our world. When we see injustice, no matter where we see it, we should take action, we should resonate the words of the Divine when we see injustice. When we understand, those of us follow the teachings of Jesus, that standing against injustice, in all it forms, is the very fabric of our being, we are ready to dive into the messiness and stand strong. When we do, we have something powerful to say, and do.

We need to overcome injustice. The his letter to the Romans [12:21 TLB] Paul writes, “Don’t let evil get the upper hand but conquer evil by doing good.”

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