Accidently Human

Several analysts of the circumstances related to the April, 1995, bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, have suggested that a major cause of this and other dramatic tragedies, in America, is the anger of white (Caucasian) men in the young through early middle-age periods of their lives.  These men, according to the analysts, feel put-upon by society, by government, by various interest groups and by the rhetoric of much of the mass media.  Males of many nations rightly have been taking their lumps.  In America they are portrayed as the murderers of native Americans (in Custer’s Case, the Indians got to him as he was on his way to slaughter them).  Some men became exploiters of black people and Asians in America.  Men are rightly cited for sexual aggression and/or abuse.  Some males are presumed to be somewhat greedy, aggressive, arrogant and less interested in children and domesticity than they ought to be for family life.  This story is negative and continues. We are informed that: there are people . . . of power . . . who sympathize with white nationalists, but legislators cannot take action without infringing on the rights of extremists. Extremists marched in Charlottesville striking down synagogues in attacking Jews. (This Week, May 19, 2019)

Men in general, (not only Black and Caucasian) are now perceived to be less sophisticated and more casual in their attire than they were a generation or two ago.  Menial jobs may fall more and more to men, unprepared to meet expectations. We do not know, at this writing, how many are caught up on identity confusion and withdrawal.  We may be conned into believing popular media is forming us. Charles Colson affirmed that while the media focus on a few thousand sect members and from them project future religion, they overlooked good citizens who respect laws and maintain their ethics, work habits and families.

As women become more visible in government and business leadership, will their behavior emulate that of the violating males?  Current studies suggest that the inclusion of women helps boards to effectiveness that may be lost to those who do not include both genders.  The better direction is emerging in the number of initiatives, and may be well reviewed in the Equal Rights proposals.  If the ERA is approved the word women will appear in the Constitution for the first time, and boards of business will have to include members from some major minority groupings, groupings that already cause some boards to outperform their predecessors.  The stories are increasing.  On the matter of the role of women appeared in The Christian Century in 2019: Only a fourth of the people involved in international nuclear nonproliferation talks are women.  They reject the idea that women are more dovish than men.  However, there’s evidence that in negotiations women tend to be more collaborative and cooperative.  They are also less likely to be overconfident than men in the field, which reduces the risk of rash actions leading to nuclear devastation. (Foreign Policy, April 15,2019)

The point to be made is that whether male or female, whether from one race or the other (as illustrated in ethnic politics), the forces of evil, of laziness, of graft, of hatred, of cheating, falls heavily upon the shoulders of many citizens.  The loss of graces, aspiration, human respect in conduct, and preoccupation of scandal in media have stained general society.  We fail in both personal and social context.  We are really better than we seem in world history and interpersonal relationships.  We need to report better about some large human progress.  There is a divine pattern of empathy in the human race that neutralizes the negatives in human competition.  Male and female were never meant to be competitive.  The competencies of women, beginning with birthing, and that of men in generativity demands respect for equality.  Neither gender is seen as superior, because both are necessary to the survival of both.  The refinement of good parentage, education, health, opportunity and the life both giveth and taketh away the factors on which alleged superiority may be found.  Our equality is in our freedom given of God.  When it is engaged with life planning our advances are greater, and our mistakes are lesser.  Neither a bride nor a groom, in true love, can, at least at the ceremony of marriage, imagine heaven without the presence of each other, and the only living things from earth are equal and without gender divisions.  There will be an eternal holiness that carries meaning in all persons in the beauty of Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.