Holy and Unholy War

By Eddie Griffin

Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting on yesterday is a reminder that are people out there who wants to destroy and kill us. If it is not a racial bigot on the rampage, it is al-Qaeda’s terrorist plans and attacks. They have declared war against us.

For now, I will consider the museum shooting as a random act of violence, so as not to appear alarmist. Terror is what terror produces: Fear in the mind. Why add another log to the fire? If men march into hell with their arms wide open, their torment awaits them.

Of course, my reactionary friends will hear the bells go off in their heads and jump out of their emotional comfort zones to contrive to do something, anything, just not let this thing go without vocal condemnation and protest. Their first impulse is to ask: What should we do about this? The question implies the answer must be a reaction to the tune of tit-for-tat. And this, no doubt, would play into the enemy’s hand, because it keeps the war alive.

As a 62-year old black man, my primary concern, is putting one foot in front of the other to keep from stumbling and falling and breaking my old bones. I avoid jaywalking because any car in view is faster than I can get across the street. So, I walk to the corner and get the assistance of a green light in my favor. If I have to hurry, then I would have to take a timeout after crossing to catch my breath. And, in the end, I will lose whatever gain I made by my hurry.

Oh, about the museum shooter. I casually glanced at it on television and read skimmed it in the newspaper. It appears that this 88-years old guy James von Brunn is more agile than I, besides his being a race hater. I guess that would make me a member of his endangered species list because my skin is black.

It feels like its deer season again, and my black pelt is worth more dead than alive. Some might tell me not to even contemplate it, because there are more people who love me than hate me. Some comfort this is. The von Brunns of the world is not hunting elk, but deer. People with white skin are immune to danger.

It is no wonder why some people scream like babies for their bottles and pacifiers when you talk about gun control. These guys want no controls. Every man has the right to bear arm to protect the contents of my mind and imagination. They just want to go out and shoot whomever they wish, whenever they get the trigger-happy urge, and wherever they decide to flip out.

How can I tell the difference between a gun in the hand of an evil man and a gun in the hand of a good man? If smoking gun could talk, it will tell me that there are none that is good… no not one.

Therefore, there is no such thing as a holy war, except contrived in the minds of unholy men. Al-Qaeda is no different than the Aryan Brotherhood. The Taliban is no different than Neo-Nazis. And, Hezbollah is no different than the Ku Klux Klan, with an equal amount of legacy to exist.

The fact that evil exists in the world is no more threatening to me than the speeding car that would run me over. It is the mind of the man behind the wheel, the mind of the man behind the gun, and the mind of the people who wear blinders and condone excessiveness in speed and power. A man driving his pickup at breakneck speed, zipping in and out of traffic, cutting people off and giving them the bird is more dangerous to me than al-Qaeda.

I need no advice on how to cross the road. I simply watch the traffic. The highway is full of selfish, mindless people, who have sold their souls to hell. They are on a suicide run and they want everybody to die with them. They hate so much that only the balm in Gilead can heal them.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? (Jeremiah 8:22)