Month: June 2020

They Are Precious in His Sight

emyloom Leave a comment

Can I love all people without bowing allegiance to BLM?

Does it make me a racist because I do not agree with the precepts of that organization?

I will never support BLM. However, I do support my neighbors, friends and fellow human beings regardless of the color of their skin.

If you are hungry, I will help feed you; if you are homeless, I will help shelter you; if you need a friend to talk to, I will listen.

I will not follow the crowd for one day and think it will make a difference in the world. What does change the world is living every day with compassion and care for the others. I cannot help everyone in the world but can help the one in front of me.

At the same time, I will not apologize for the color of my skin. I was formed by God and although my skin color may have not been an impediment for me, I had my fair share of trials and struggles in my youth. Things, that although unfair, brought me to where I am today. Those experiences gave me a greater compassion for the weak and helpless. When I look at people, I try to see their hearts, the color of one’s skin is not a factor in how I feel about a person. I try to see them as God sees them.

The simple Sunday School song from my childhood taught me all I needed to know. Listed by colors the meaning is clear, every race, every person, no matter their skin tone… “they are precious in his sight…” All people are precious, all are valuable.

Finally, my silence or decision not to join the BLM movement does not make me a less accepting or a less compassionate person. I have never been a follower of popular movements and there just seems something unsettling about the hate being spewed with this one  

Love yourself no matter the color of your skin. Love your neighbor no matter the color of their skin. Listen to others, help others, love others.

My decision to not join, you label as silence and you say it is violence. My silence is not violence. My silence is living my beliefs. My silence is peace. My silence is love.

The Police

emyloom 1 Comment

This conversation started in 2016 after a  police incident when someone said they didn’t understand all the killings by police.  These are really tough times and there are some horrible incidents that are examples of police misconduct in the forefront.

So many views on this and I am not justifying any unlawful action by the police officers or citizens.  All life is precious but the fact is your doctor is more likely to kill you than a law enforcement officer.

Annually 400 thousand people die as a result of medical errors.  This year (2016) just over 500 people have died as a result of police shootings. The DOJ has a report out that shows that of complaints for all the police officer contacts, by all officers in the US, less than 1% are deemed sustained.

However, these facts don’t fit the agenda of the media and political policy.

Law enforcement like any profession have those who bring shame and disgrace to them all.  However, more than 99% of them are devoted,  caring and heroic men and women who serve an often very difficult public.

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ccpuf.pdf

https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/are-medical-errors-really-the-third-most-common-cause-of-death-in-the-u-s/

When I made the statement comparing law enforcement to medical deaths, I was hit with a comeback that what is going on is not about medical malpractice.   No it is not, but when people say the police are out of control in causing the deaths of citizens,  in comparison to the deaths by medical error, it is minute.  I was using it as an example of how things are exaggerated and the numbers are really quite small.  Compared to other professions based on total number of contacts with citizens, and total number of police,  the police have a  less than a 1% level of sustained complaints.

I hear statements like “the police are out-of-control” they are targeting black young men, or that they are systematically racist; I do not believe the facts support that and it’s just hyperbole that adds fuel to the fire.

If the media started a campaign about doctors and telling people what the races were of medical error victims, if they injected how incompetent doctors were, and how they were targeting a specific group of people, I wonder would the public get all up in the arms about that too.  People rebel against authority and people don’t like the police and it’s a very tough job. But I don’t believe the facts support that they’re out of control.

There are over 750,000 sworn police officer in the US, if only 1/2 of 1% were corrupt, that’s 3750.  A huge number.  The police want to weed them out as well.  Even at that high number, I think it is astounding that there are not more incidents.  Demonizing the entire profession does not solve the problem.  It is sad.  All of it sad

Life on the street is really tough right now for officers. They go out everyday prepared to save lives and put their own lives on the line for complete strangers, often in very difficult situations.  I venture to guess that they never ask the race, color or nationality of the people they are going to help or or risk their lives for.  They are called to switch on and off their emotions from one call to the next where they go from performing CPR in a child pulled from a pool, to listening to people complain about where their neighbor parks his car.

Yes, there is and should be a higher standard for officers and for the majority of the nations approx 750 thousand officers that standard is met. At the same time, contrary to the media’s hype, the incidents of excessive force over all the 53 million contacts police have with the public, less than 0.0039% have been sustained. (From Bureau of Justice Statistics)

Please keep your local police officers in prayer, they present a tough exterior but have a calling to do a tough job that even their critics could not manage for a day.