As the stories emerge from a media that can’t be trusted, it is hard to deny the images we’re seeing coming out of Afghanistan. We’re going to hear plenty of blame, copious amounts of finger-pointing, and calls for vacating various offices and positions. I’ve got news for you all. You can’t legitimately lay things like this at the feet of a person or party. We still have yet to grasp the cultural story the people of Afghanistan inhabit, thus the leadership that sends young men and women off to a foreign land to work are the holders of this proverbial bag.
Since we love the revenue wars generate but deny our greed, we’ve also become hardened to the truth. “And what is the truth as you see it, Michael?”
We’ve stopped loving our neighbors as ourselves…
We should be diligently in prayer for the Afghans, both in hopes, the Taliban will stop their nonsense and that our helpers will be spared. Those thoughts are necessary and prudent. But, there’s something you can do in the physical sense that too few of us seem to grasp. I submit to you this example of what most will call a failure, which will stain the many people of America that have contributed so greatly to the call asked of them by their country. …And they’ll need people that care about them to prove it.
I want you to take a moment and think through the ‘here and now’ and ponder all the families that have irreparably altered and destroyed over the last two decades. We’ve got men and women coming home whose bodies are mangled and shredded. There are fine people with minds that are bruised and battered. There are sacrificial lambs that came home only to be buried, as well. These many oblations, if you will, come at a tremendous cost. With a departure like this, it can and may send a signal to all those warriors of the cause, it didn’t mean much in the end. That, my friends, is a tragedy.
While I don’t believe their good works were all for not, it would be hard not to question this to its very core. Since we know this capricious notion is upon us, what may we do? Reach out and remind these people their lives matter. Remind them that while mortal men make routined mistakes He does not. Provide them love and comfort, if by no other means, just being present in their lives. We’re at risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Now isn’t the time to ruminate. Stop pondering and talk to a neighbor or friend you know needs the support.
You know who they are and where they live. And if you don’t, seek them. They did their work FOR YOU, now it’s time to shore them up in return. When they have questions, be answers through Faith to them. Do not allow the hard work and dedication to be diminished by the appearance of current events for the many people involved in these actions. I’m gravely concerned many fragile and injured souls will be swamped with thoughts that are hard to balance.
Please, my friends. Make every effort to be there for one another. Love one another and your neighbor as yourself.