A STARTLING CONVERSATION

 Haitians obtaining visas to the United States is a hard task.  But every once in a while the application is successful.  Such is the case with a recent visa we (that is, the Haitian Timoun Foundation) were able to obtain for a pharmacist who will come to the United States to participate in training as part of a project, jointly sponsored and led by the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado.  The project is to determine the efficacy of drugs being sold in Haiti.  There is a belief that, like so many other products dumped into Haiti, the drugs lack authenticity.  They are either expired and have lost their punch, or, much worse, they are fake. 

That this young pharmacist was able to get a visa is somewhat of a miracle, especially under the immigration climate that now exists in the U.S.  But she got one!  It is the dream of almost every Haitian to emigrate to the United States, but there is also a fear.  A somewhat frequent refrain in conversations in Haiti about going to the United States is this: “It is very dangerous.”  That’s right, people in Haiti, who once suffered under the ruthless dictatorship of the Duvaliers, who have experienced numerous coups, where there are often demonstrations that sometimes turn violent and who have endured earthquakes, hurricanes, cholera, and other disasters, speak of the dangers of going to the United States.  “You could get murdered.”    

And they are right.  The likelihood of being murdered in the United States greatly exceeds that possibility in Haiti.

USAMERICA’S GUN CULTURE CONFIRMED

 There is a new ranking of gun deaths in the world.  See:  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/theres-a-new-global-ranking-of-gun-deaths-heres-where-the-u-s-stands.  Data from 2016 show that half of the world’s gun deaths occurred in six countries.  The list:

Brazil

United States

Mexico

Venezuela

Colombia

Guatemala

There is also another list.  This list ranks the 20 most violent countries in terms of per capita  deaths by firearms.  The United States is on this list.  That’s right, in addition to the countries listed above, the United States joins countries like El Salvador, Afghanistan, and Honduras on the list.  (BTW, Haiti is not on the list.)

HOLDING UP THE MIRROR

I recently concluded a 3-part series of blog posts on the topic of USAmerica’s Gun Culture and the Church’s Witness.  In the second installment of that series I presented facts that support the notion that we have an idolatrous relationship with guns.  See:  https://www.rightspirit.org/blog/gunculturepart2. 

This relationship is an addiction.  And the thwarted efforts to bring some sort of reasonable gun control reform reinforce the stubbornness of the addiction.  Competent therapists posit that effective therapy is when the mirror can be held up so that the patient can see one’s self as one really is and the patient is motivated enough to change beliefs and behaviors.

I am not going to rehearse again here the arguments that were presented in the series or revisit the fine blog post by Pastor Lorne Hlad, a veteran deployed on two tours in Iraqi.  See:  https://www.rightspirit.org/blog/2018/5/29/conflict-peace. 

I am simply holding up the mirror again in hope that it might refuel passion for change and may, just maybe, change some minds.

In the abiding hope of the empty tomb.