Last week an obituary became an Internet sensation when it
exposed a 78 year-old deceased mother of eight as being the perpetrator of mental,
physical, and emotional abuse on her children. AP writer’s Scott Sonner and
Sandra Chereb reported the adult children were celebrating their biological
mother’s passing and quoted one son as saying, “The main purpose for putting it [abuse] in there was to bring awareness to the child abuse. And shame her a
little bit.” Maybe the adult children will gain some peace and community support
through their very public revelations. However, the idea that it might somehow
shame their mother is intriguing. The woman apparently felt no shame during her
life as an abuser; it seems unlikely that she will feel shame when she stands
before the Lord. Of course I have to remember the story Jesus told of the rich
man and Lazarus, who both died at the same time. Lazarus went to the place of
righteousness and the rich man went to hell. The rich man’s torment must have finally
reached a compassionate nerve because he said to Abraham, “Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not
also come to this place of torment.” (Luke 16:27-28 NIV)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----We have some six billion people on the earth today. There have been nearly as many who’ve died before us. I’m hard pressed to presume they all will act like the rich man when dead. Therefore I would not particularly presume this woman would, either. I have no idea how many would or wouldn’t. But I will presume with you the definite possibility that she might. At least in subtle intricacy there will be some twelve billion different attitudes on the other side of death’s veil, which all could be categorized by more general descriptions.
-----You don’t know the exact effects of your actions across the spectrum of all whom they touch. But you can know more particularly the more the actions are distinctly shaped and carefully directed. These siblings seem to have rather shot-gunned the public while sniping for mommy.
-----Awareness of child abuse is a bit beneficial in as much as awareness of anything is beneficial. But once something has come to awareness, what then are you going to say? And if you perceive that to be an euphemistic, “So what?” I think you caught my drift. Those in whose life there is no child abuse have no reason to be aware of it. Those in whose life there is are already aware.
-----It is not the child abuse about which there needs to be more awareness. People feel their feelings when mommy treats them like dirt. Everyone else doesn’t. God gave us this weird capacity to only feel our own feelings. Upon this the “out of sight, out of mind” principle builds. If this world needs any big drive to bring awareness to something, that something would be the importance of imagination.
-----I don’t mean imagination like, “Can you draw a really cool picture?” I mean that mind and emotion which can not help but seek out the implications of external realities upon the internal realities of another individual. I mean that mind and emotion which can not help but realize itself as being an external reality causing internal realities within another person.
-----Over there, where my feelings do not directly feel, imagination must indirectly feel. It is a developed skill, a built gateway through which we outdo one another in showing honor, through which we please our neighbor for his good to edify him, through which we do good to all men by doing unto others as we would have them do unto us.
-----Strong, sensibly steered, actively engaged imaginations probe the words and expressions and reactions of other people for clues by which to know and understand and “feel” what is in that other’s heart for knowing how to treat it right. That kind of imagination is a real product of desire for righteousness, the very most basic ambition which directs us to our knees before the King.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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