PROGRAM SUCCESS – EASTER 2013 PAGE 31
Fisher’s of Men
The shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman started an outcry
of injustice heard around this country and the world that affected the
emotions of mothers and fathers, the young and the old, and every other
soul regardless of race, creed and social-economic background. This
incident based on public outcry is labeled the worst thing that ever
happened. However, we have pinched our tent, painted our signs, put on
our shoes and marched on the slippery tip of the iceberg, because not
enough attention is being paid to the huge mass-of-a-problem that exist
beneath the water out of which this tragic situation grew.
Both of these young men took different paths in their life that united them
on the narrow sidewalk that divided the back patios of the gated
condominiums on that dreadful Sunday night. It is my opinion that we
only kick against the pricks when we try to solve a problem without
researching and discovering the root of the problem. That is if problem
solving is our goal… maybe some only wants to complain. A Problem
without a Solution is a Complaint.
We know a lot about these young men by what has be uncovered by the
media, although not presumed to be exact; it paints a picture worth
noting. Trayvon Martin’s past shows trouble spots that reveals him as a
teenage searching for identity down some trouble paths. His school
suspensions for absences, marijuana traces, and the women’s jewelry
found in his possession are again – the tip of the iceberg, of the many
things that may have been troubling his life. The break-up of his mother
and father, the two people he loved the most, may have played a factor in
his acting-out. We do know that it was his suspension that leads him to
Sanford at a time he should have been in school in Miami.
George Zimmerman past also showed indicators that may lead him to this
destructive path with a gun in his hand. Born in a family of a white father,
a judge who married his Hispanic clerk, this life of privilege in the
suburbs may not have faired well to George’s mixed heritage creating
anger issues that lead to him having two restraining orders placed on him
and an arrest for assaulting a police officer. Having a father of influence,
however, allowed him to expunge his charges and records so he could
pursue a career - ironically as a police officer, and also purchase a gun
and obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
The combination of George’s anger problems, unsuccessful ambitions,
life of privilege that cover his mistakes instead of correcting his mistakes,
created the person who thinks he is entitled to defy authority and take
matters into his own hand which by-the-way has a gun in it.
George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin are two young men, but not the
only two young men in our communities whose troubled paths led to
situations of senseless death. As a nation we have seen in Pasadena,
California an unarmed young man Kendrec McDade was shot and killed
by police because it was falsely reported that he and his friend had stolen
a backpack from another young man at gun point. The backpack was
recovered in their possession but the story of a gun was fabricated by the
victim. The police said Kendrec McDade made a movement toward his
waistband which made them shoot. Maybe this young Black college student was
simply reaching to pull up his saggin pants?
Then there was the young Asian man L. Goh who went into Oikos University a
Christian College in Oakland, California with a gun, killing 7 and wounding 3 before
turning himself in at a grocery store down the street. And there was T.J. Lane, a
white high school student at Chardon High School, in Ohio, who took a gun to his
school killing 3 of his schoolmates and wounding 2 others.
What about Jared Lee Loughner, 22, who shot 18 people at a Safeway Supermarket
in Arizona. His target was Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford. 6 people died,
including Judge John Roll, and 9-year old Christina-Taylor Green. And let’s not
forget Timothy McVeigh who killed 168 people which included 19 children in the
daycare, and wounded 450 in the Oklahoma City Bombing before the troubled path
he traveled ended.
There is a recorded police tape in the Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman
incident of a cry of Help. May I conclude that it was the cry of both these young men
before that dreadful gunshot. There is always a cry of Help. In each of the lives of
the young men mentioned above, there was a cry of Help. Maybe unheard… Maybe
ignored? Either way – unassisted in time.
Jesus gave an invitation in Matt 4:19 saying “follow me and
I will make you Fishers of Men”. He who came to Love,
Heal and Forgive and lived the perfect life, asked us to
follow him, and as a result we will pull men
from the seas of despair, pain, disappointment,
and shame… fish them from the treacherous
seas that causes them to destroy their lives
and the lives of others.
Our churches are 80% women which
underscores the fact that we need Men to
be Fishers of Men. Men who are willing
to follow The Perfect Example and live
exemplary lives that other men can see and
be willing to follow. Men that stay with their
wives and honor all women because they
realize their actions are seeds planted in the
lives of young men for generations to come.
We need Men whose words today produce Love,
have the ability to Heal, and can foster Forgiveness.
On the occasions when Jesus fed the multitudes
he only counted the men. In our society the
well-being of our Men has great implications and
great impacts. We need our Men to be present and
counted among the family as Men of action
and determination. Therefore let’s examine not
just the tip of the iceberg, but instead go into the
deep seas and discover the problems that are
drowning our young men. Then, let’s seek and
support those men among us who by the
life they live show evidence that they are
blessed by God to be Fishers of Men.