About a week ago I saw a short video that was taken during the singing of the National Anthem at a Cub’s baseball game. A man in his 70’s is leaning over and speaking to a young man in his late teens/early 20’s. You can’t hear him, but it is obvious that he is telling the young man to stand up for the National Anthem. He doesn’t. The older man’s response is to slap the young man on the head. They are sitting apart, so I don’t think they knew each other, and the older man moves away slightly after the slap. The people around them are shocked, but nobody knows what to do. The video ended with no resolution, but lots of questions. To be honest, I don’t know if I could have been as restrained as the recipient of the slap; I also admit that it upsets me when people don’t respect the flag or that song.
Maybe the young guy wasn’t raised right. I remember, as a teenager, being at a sporting event and not knowing that this was a requirement. I didn’t watch sports on TV, and I didn’t attend many events, so this may have been the first time I was at something where the National Anthem was played. An older man leaned towards me and said, quietly, that I should stand out of respect for the flag, which I did. I doubt that, in 1973, he would have had the nerve to slap me if I didn’t listen. I hadn’t been raised to do this, but someone kindly took time to teach me. Or maybe this young man was choosing to not stand, which is his right, even if I don’t agree with it. His disrespect of the flag bothers me, but the older man’s willingness to take justice into his own hands bothers me more.
For at least 60 years, Americans have been taught that being a vigilante is wrong, but also kind of cool and righteous. Consider the vast number of movies – the Dirty Harry series, or almost any Charles Bronson flick – that portray vigilantes as heroic figures. We have seen one young mentally ill man murder a health insurance administrator in cold blood; and portions of the population idolize him! We have politicians that use power to take vengeance on people they perceive as their enemies, and large portions of the population support them. Maybe it has to do with our growing distrust of elected officials or law enforcement – maybe we don’t believe that the justice system works anymore for people without power or money. It is a complicated issue, but it is also extremely dangerous. At this rate, everyone will carry weapons and this will be the wild west again. If it isn’t already.
Prayer – Holy God, have mercy on us for taking the law into our own hands. Heal our systems so that justice might prevail. Amen.