Monday, March 18, 2013

Responsibility & Grace

Have you wondered what the young lady who breastfed her son on the cover of Time last year is up to now? Lot's. Here's a phenomenal and recent piece. In case you missed it, all over her blog and in the Time article Jamie Lynn was not shy about sharing the fact that she is a practicing Christian and was raised to be one also.

This is a truly remarkable blog entry. I'm astounded that someone "so young"* is a) this squared away in her mid 20's to have such sober thoughts, b) actually did this and followed through and c) wrote something very sophisticated and yet accessible about it.

When I was in my mid 20's I was doing all I could to stay employed as a Probationary Police Officer with the police department. I didn't posses the gear to organize my thoughts so well, and then follow through and deliver a message like that.

I was struck by how Ms Jamie Lynn was able to express her sorrow at losing her brother, yet didn't transfer this into anger at the person - or the organization the person worked for - who ended his life.

We hear way, way too many people blame the proximate cause of their friend or relative's death - police officers (and the department that employs them) or civilians (and the gun they used, or the Castle Doctrine or Stand Your Ground or whatever) defending themselves. Rarely does a surviving relative say, "Pookie / Jose / Chad just shouldn't have robbed that liquor store at 2am. He pointed a gun at the cashier's head. What did he think was going to happen?"

The author does not try do diminish her brother's responsibility. She lays the blame on her brother's crippling addiction and reaches out to speak with the officer involved. It's refreshing when someone truly understands responsibility. The grace shown by the author, her father and even the retired copper gives me quite a bit of optimism. When someone says, "What can one person do?" I think this young lady gave a clear answer.

I'm struck by this because I know this will never see the light of day in the mainstream media. the LA Times, local news and national news are all too busy trying to show you conflict, man's inhumanity to man and who you should despise to tell a sophisticated story that shows you the true beauty and grace of people living their faith in Jesus.

*so young is in quotes because our society seems to think it's a non-stop party from 13-30. How often do you hear about 26 year old "kids"?

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