Today is Good Friday. For the faithful, Good Friday commemorates the death of Jesus Christ. It leads us into Easter Sunday, celebrating His resurrection.
For three days, Thursday through Sunday, believers commemorate a feast, the capture, and suffering of Christ, His Crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection. The Easter weekend also symbolizes the transition from winter and death to spring, beginning a new life.
A local harbinger of spring was the birth of the first bison of this year at Fermilab. Fermilab has a herd of over 30 bison on a reconstructed all grass prairie established in 1969. Every spring, new calves are born. Other signs of spring are flowers and other greenery blooming, despite the yo-yo weather.
The four seasons celebrate life, death, rejuvenation, and rebirth. It is the nature of the Earth. The exception to the life-death cycle is the human species. The Fifth Commandment states, “Thou shalt not kill.” The actual translation is “Thou shalt not murder.” Somehow, through the millennia, humans have not adapted.
There is no resurrection, no celebration of life’s rejuvenation. To quote John Prine, “And I always will remember these words my daddy said. He said, ” Buddy, when you’re dead, you’re a dead pecker-head.” (When I get to Heaven)
Humans consider ourselves the superior species, yet we are the only species on Earth that keeps killing its own, whether it is murders or wars. Some superiority. For some reason, we just cannot stop murdering or trying to murder each other. Animals are the only species that obey the commandment.
Between 2020 and 2021, over 1500 people were shot and killed in Chicago. Their families commemorate them. Thousands more were wounded. It was two years of relentless violence.
War is raging in Ukraine. Thousands of innocent people are being slaughtered by the murderous Russian army on orders of its blood-thirsty leader. Millions more were driven from their homes. Unknown thousands were taken to Russia and placed in “filtration” camps before being taken to undisclosed locations in the far north. History is repeating itself.
So, that’s what they wanted: lies. Beautiful lies. That’s what they needed. (Charles Bukowski)
Humans keep making excuses for murder and the mass murder of war. Guns, drugs, gangs, poverty, racism, economics, covetous, nationalism, mental health, and a host of other issues. They are all lies. Beautiful lies we need to believe in our supposed human superiority. The beautiful lies make us feel better about our so-called humanity. Some of the lies we tell ourselves, others are provided by politicians and their propagandists. More beautiful lies are made up by mental health “professionals” to allegedly explain behavior.
Our propensity to murder proves humans are not humane. As a species, we are devoid of humanity. Humanity is another beautiful lie we created to make us feel good about ourselves.
Between Chicago and Ukraine, the Grim Reaper and the Angel of Death are working overtime together. There are no legions of Archangels to protect or rescue us from ourselves. We are our own worst enemies.
Easter celebrates renewal and the promise of hope. Unfortunately, human society is hopeless. We do not practice what we preach.
If you go to Good Friday services today, say a prayer for Chicago. Your life may depend on it. Say a prayer for Ukraine. Their existence depends on it.