Thoughts from 2021

[This was written June of 2021, but I chickened out and didn't post it at that time.]  

 In 1993, I was in the Marriott Center on the campus of BYU to hear Howard W. Hunter, a beloved apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  While President Hunter stood at the podium, a man rushed onto the stand, held a black object to the head of the 85-year old apostle and demanded he read a piece of paper outlining his extreme religious views.  

The audience of over 15,000 people was stunned, security was advancing cautiously, and the man was barking orders while the apostle’s soft voice seemed to be trying to reason with the man.  Like many in the audience, I worried that the device was a detonator for a bomb.  I was gripped with fear and bowed my head to pray.  Several voices started singing, and the hymn quickly spread around the auditorium.  I can’t remember if I was singing or crying at that point.  Someone in the crowd had the presence of mind, not just to pray, but to start a song to invite the Spirit and invite us to choose faith over fear.  The song seemed to distract and agitate the man with the black object, and he was soon subdued by security and taken into custody.  President Hunter was attended to briefly by emergency personnel and then miraculously resumed his remarks, entitled, "An Anchor to the Souls of Men."

It turns out that the man was a member of the church named Cody Judy, but he had recently fallen on hard times and apparently didn’t know how to seek help through law abiding means.  In his confused and angry state he had lashed out, misled by his own delusions.  His note showed that he valued the church as an institution, but he had convinced himself that his target was not worthy of respectful treatment.   

The incident was years ago, but I think there are still things to learn.  I think it was a vivid depiction of the harmful effects of fear, isolation, anger, and misguided fanaticism, especially when combined with mental health issues.  Previous to the Marriott Center incident, Judy had spent 6 years in the mental health system and prison system, then emerged on parole.  How sad that this man could not find among friends, family, or professionals the kind of connection, strength, and honest reality checks that we all need as we move from a simple to a complex view of the world.  Maybe to his disordered mind, the real world seemed so complex and threatening that he retreated into a self-reinforcing delusion instead.   This delusion led him to assault an elderly man who was preaching about Jesus Christ.  Incidentally, Mr. Judy has since claimed that the Marriott Center incident was a constitutionally protected exercise of free-speech.  

I believe that most of the people who marched to the Capitol on January 6, 2021 were not intending to break in.  I heard from family members who are local to the area that the beginning and middle of this march were like many other rallies in the city, legally scheduled to begin at a park or plaza with motivational speeches, then continuing with a walk to either the Capitol, the White House, or the Supreme Court accompanied by the press coverage they hope will broadcast their message to the world.  This is the constitutionally guaranteed First Amendment rights part. 

But despite the routine nature of most rallies and marches, this time was different.  This time many people in the crowd had been fed on a diet of fear, isolationism, anger, and fanaticism.  They had been carefully groomed, taught to reject external media voices that disagreed with their singular point of view.  Many had been given false promises of assured victory and were primed to be angry at anything other than a landslide victory.  They had seen their leader verbally abuse his opponents, threaten his detractors --even those of his own political party and administration--, and encourage paramilitary groups with racist views.  So while some members of the crowd may have meant to make a peaceful First-Amendment-protected statement of solidarity at the Capitol, other members of the crowd heard the dog-whistle instructions of their leader and responded.  They physically and verbally assaulted security forces, trespassed and vandalized the building, and actively hunted for their political enemies with intent to harm.  We may never know if the leader's intentions that day were seditious or just careless, but I'm curious what made the difference between the activists who loudly but peacefully protested and the vigilantes who fought with security and hunted public servants.  What caused so many to justify crossing the line from partisan fervor to violence?  

Those of us who feel like bystanders have a choice.  We can let the negativity overwhelm us to inaction, or we can let anger control us, tapping into the same dark power that has been so damaging in others.  Or we can find some way to push positivity into the world and get back to work.  Maybe that means continuing with our own best plans without getting sucked into the vortex of emotions.  Maybe that means we tone down our personal use of polarizing trigger words as we try to tell the truth with civility. 

I am very concerned that there are millions of Americans feeling discouraged, fearful, enraged, or suspicious about their fellow citizens.  Too many people feel isolated from what should be trustworthy media sources.  Maybe some of my fellow Americans feel so estranged and fearful that a simple worldview based on all-or-nothing thinking seems safer than the real world of complexity where my views also have unintended consequences.  Maybe some people like the powerful feeling that "It's us vs. them," deciding that the other side is so bad that any efforts to stop them are justified.  In actuality, the other Americans who disagree with my political views are not literally brainwashed or murderers or terrorists, no matter how disgreeable their views may seem.  These are our family members, our neighbors, perhaps members of our congregations, fellow citizens of our nation (or fellow residents of our communities).  The people I agree with are not actually saviors or infallible heroes, no matter how heroic they may seem to me.  Healing the nation means helping disaffected communities feel safe again, so we can listen without planning our next retort, talk without shouting or name calling, disagree with each other civilly so we can actually sort out fact from fiction, and strengthen each other so we can face the complexities of the real world.  

Howard W. Hunter said, "Fear, which can come upon people in difficult days, is a principal weapon in the arsenal which Satan uses to make mankind unhappy. He who fears loses strength for the combat of life in the fight against evil. Therefore the power of the evil one always tries to generate fear in human hearts....Our task is to live fully and faithfully and not worry ourselves sick about the woes of the world or when it will end. Our task is to have the gospel in our lives and to be a bright light, a city set on the hill, which reflects the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the joy and happiness that will always come to every people in every age who keep the commandments."