Lesson 4: Fear and Power
The nation is reeling after just three weeks of the Trump administration brandishing naked power. Many citizens are trying to figure out how we got to this place as if knowing might contribute to overcoming the violence.
When I ask about this, I remember a visit to the South several years ago. All the conversation with retired white wealthy businesspeople and bankers was about guns. One entire evening was spent discussing the best revolver for a woman.
When I asked my friend the next morning why he carried a weapon, he quickly replied, “I want to be ready when they come down the street.” I didn’t get much of an answer on asking who “they“ were and came away thinking this group had a vague fear that some unknown was out to take away their power.
I get the same feeling when listening to some Evangelical and Roman Catholic leaders talk about secular humanists destroying religious freedom and working to close down our churches. For the life of me, I cannot identify any organized effort to do that.
Donald Trump stoked these fears. For years, his website’s slogan was, “They are coming after YOU. I am only standing in the way.”
One way to explain his ascension to power is his ability to play on the paranoia that inflicts us. He presented himself as the strong man who can overpower those out to get us. Then he identified them for us, and now he claims to be destroying them by deporting immigrants, eliminating diversity programs, and removing transgender rights. He is also establishing an agency to protect Christians from some unknown persecution.
Recovery might start by identifying the true source of our fear. I think a great deal stems from sensing we are not safe when people carry guns and nations possess nuclear weapons, when our lifestyle destroys the environment, and when our greed depletes our resources. We sense the danger but refuse to confront it because we feel helpless contending with the tremendous power of modern technology.
Martin Luther King argued that is exactly why we need love now more than ever. The power of modern technology makes this a “love or else” situation.
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But how do I love those whose words, decisions, and actions are doing so much harm? What does loving them mean when I absolutely abhor what they’re doing?