Five Years Later, A Rebuttal Never Sent

In June of 2020, I received a manila envelope from the address that my maternal grandparents — my Granny and Pops — had just recently moved to.  Their previous home was bought out under eminent domain to add more lanes to Interstate 95 in Biscayne Gardens, Florida, at the southern end of the infamous Golden Glades Interchange, so they had to find a new place after literally decades of living in the same location.  It was the first thing I’d gotten from them at the new address.

Interestingly, the name on the return address was only “Pops.”

I’ve brought him up many times before.  Will Keyser had found employment in many professions throughout his life and mine, but most importantly in my lifetime and to this story, he was an ordained Southern Baptist minister and the pastor of the church that we and several other families planted in Aventura in late 1992.

We had all previously been members of Ives Dairy Road Baptist Church just a few blocks to the west.  It was the same general area, all within a couple miles in far-northern Dade County — literally just a few blocks south of County Line Road — and it was easy to drive from one place to the other.  But we had done a little “market research,” as it were, and we found that the people of Aventura had a tendency to keep things hyper-local.  They didn’t like driving to Ives Estates, North Miami Beach, Hallandale, or even across the bridge to Sunny Isles for anything.  Aventurans liked to stay in Aventura.

At that time, Aventura was an unincorporated Census Designated Place, not an incorporated city in its own right, and The Church at Aventura was the only Christian house of worship to be located there.  Though, interestingly, we eventually found out that it was not the first!  An overgrown lot was being cleared out for development a couple years later, and a dilapidated church building was discovered there.  It was hard to say exactly when it dated from, but nobody had been aware of it up until that point, and the development of what is now Aventura began in the late 70’s and early 80’s, so it was clearly built at some time prior to the modern metropolis.

But as the only existing Christian congregation, we developed some good relationships in the community.  Pops became the chaplain at Aventura Hospital, a major regional medical center serving northeastern Dade and southeastern Broward Counties (it’s where I had my tonsillectomy prior to all of this, in fact).  When the City of Aventura officially incorporated in 1995, Pops became the Aventura Police Department’s chaplain, as well.  Because of his unique position, he became something of a local media fascination, and was a frequent guest on local TV and radio shows.  Not the least of which belonging to Miami talk radio legend Neil (GOD!) Rogers; who admittedly had Pops on in a “get a load of this guy” kinda way, but was respectful about it, and he genuinely appreciated Pops’s perspective.

Side note: over a decade later, Phil Hendrie — who was doing a nationally syndicated show from Los Angeles in the mid-aughts, but had been at WIOD with Rogers in the early 90’s — developed a character named “Charlie the Complainer.”  If you’ve heard Charlie the Complainer, you’ve heard my Pops.  That is Will Keyser’s voice, his inflection, and his speech patterns, to. A. Tee. However, the opinions and attitudes expressed by Charlie the Complainer are not necessarily those of Will Keyser, The Church at Aventura, the Southern Baptist Convention, or this station.  And as Phil suggests in the clip below, Pops simply wouldn’t have listened.

We also formed good relationships with a couple of the synagogues in the area.  In case you’re unaware, Aventura is a very prominent Jewish enclave; the largest and densest on the East Coast outside of New York City.  We held joint Passover Seders and celebrated Hanukkah together, both as congregations and as friends and neighbors.

And while Aventura is noted as an enclave, all of South Florida boasts a sizeable Jewish population.  As such, I grew up learning all about World War II and the Holocaust.  Elie Wiesel spoke to my middle school — in person; not by recording, and this was long before the days of video calls.  That history, especially, was hammered into our heads constantly.

That will come up again later.  But first things first.

In the time prior to this package arriving, the murder of George Floyd had sparked the largest public backlash against the police state in this country that I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime.  Agents provocateur — and anyone who doubts me can look this up, it’s well-documented in arrest reports and local news stories — sparked riots, looting, and fires in the midst of the protests in order to paint the protestors as violent and illegitimate.  Predictably, the Fox Nazi Propaganda Channel and the other usual right-wing voices fervently and enthusiastically participated in the lie, convincing half the country — my Pops included — that the backlash was entirely “improper.”

Yes, there was undeniably property damage.  There were fires set, there was glass broken, there were things stolen.  Yes, some people took advantage of the situation.  But you know what?  I didn’t (and still don’t) care.  I took the position shared by Dr. Martin Luther King: a riot is the language of the unheard.  The “white moderate” (also Dr. King’s terminology) has done more to prevent the end of oppression by calling for “decorum” and “the proper process” than the direct oppressors could have ever done without them.  George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the police — amidst a rash of similar events in recent years — was the spark that blew the powderkeg.

Now, I was very vocal on Facebook at the time.  That’s where my friends and family all gathered.  The previous iteration of this site had its largest audience there, it was where everyone was talking about current events, local, national, and world alike.  Twitter may have been the place for the immediacy of news, but the opinions were on Facebook.  So it was there that I did most of my interaction.

While I don’t like riots, property damage, or theft, I’m not going to sit here and condemn any of it.  And in making that point clear back then, I said something along the lines of “even Jesus showed that righteous outrage leads to appropriate violence when he flipped the money-changers tables and chased the merchants out of the temple with an improvised whip.”

Around that time, my Uncle Kevin — Pops’s youngest child — had taken to arguing with me about things we disagreed on.

One has to understand where my uncle was coming from at the time.  His youngest son left home in less than ideal circumstances (not entirely of the family’s making, but not without familial blame, either), and his eldest son holds political positions that I would describe as being halfway between full-on leftist ideals and more moderate liberalism (he and I have had our disagreements, but we do tend to find common ground more often than not).  Uncle Kevin was seeing things that he didn’t like from me, and his knee-jerk reaction was to prevent another one of my generation from “going wrong.”

But arguing with me on Facebook clearly wasn’t accomplishing that goal, and this position of mine really set him off.  So he took it to Pops; who wasn’t active on social media, himself.  Which is how I wound up with the first and only thing Pops had ever taken it upon himself to reach out to me about — and did so not to ask for my side of the story, but did so authoritatively, telling me what was up, assuming that what he’d been told was brought to him in whole context and in good faith.  Which it clearly was not.

This is the final incident that really severed my relationship with him.  See, in my parents’ divorce, he and Granny had taken my father’s side over their own daughter’s and basically cut her out of their lives.  There are various reasons for that; none of them valid or good.  That was a bad sign to start out with, but my relationship with them remained mostly intact.  They saw my sister and I as victims in that situation… which we were in many ways, but not in the ways that Granny and Pops thought so.

It wasn’t until a visit here in Michigan some 20 years later, when they had come up for an extended family gathering in my Granna’s (Granny’s mother) last days, that things really fell apart between us.  They were… friendly enough with my mom at the time; more out of necessity simply because she was there than anything else.  But when they took me out for lunch alone, it wasn’t to talk about what was going on in their lives or my life, it was for Pops to launch into what I can only describe as a prepared statement about how he cannot condone my mother’s “lifestyle.”

See, my mother and my stepdad fell in love when they were both kids.  They went their separate ways, had separate marriages and children of their own, and then found their way back to each other.  The big “hang-up” is that he’s her uncle; the youngest of Granna’s children, my Granny’s youngest brother.  For years and years, that side of the family simply could not get over the incest factor — despite the fact that they’re the same age, there was no power imbalance or coercion whatsoever, and they never planned to and never did have any children together.

And yes, there’s still quite a bit of that attitude coming from various parts of our family.  But in the past 15 years or so, things have taken a remarkable turn for the better.  People who had altogether shunned my mom and stepdad have at least become friendly toward them again, if not outright welcoming of them (as some others have become).  Granna, herself, learned sooner than anyone else that she was going to lose her baby boy forever if she didn’t learn to at least tolerate his being married to my mom.

But none of that did much to sway Pops.  So when he went into an in-person diatribe directly to me alone about my mother and her “sin,” that’s what he was addressing: not just the marriage of his daughter to his youngest brother-in-law, but the fact that the rest of the family was starting to get over their problems with it.  He still had a problem with it, and he would not be changing his mind just because everyone else was coming around.

That was the beginning of the end of our relationship.  I didn’t really care whether he was okay with it or not.  It was the fact that he felt the need to impress upon me his belief that it wasn’t okay, when I wasn’t going to abandon my mother whether I thought she was in the wrong or not.  And for the record, she isn’t in the wrong for that, and I told him so.

After that envelope arrived, I had nothing left to say to him.  The Pops I had grown up with was a thoughtful, caring, kind, compassionate, and above all, considerate person.  Certainly stubborn and unmoving in his moral convictions — gee, I wonder where I got it from? — but willing to listen to you and understand your point of view.

What you’re about to read below does not come from a place of wanting to understand.  It comes from a game of telephone; a message filtered through the perspective of a third person who misinterpreted my intentions and passed his own misunderstanding on to the next person down the line, who then rushed to judgment based on that garbled message and immediately sought to “correct” me.

After I read it, my first impulse was to write back and correct him, at the very least for presuming to dictate the score to me based only on Uncle Kevin’s story without bothering to ask me about it.  I never really even cared about the content of his letter, even if I disagreed with it.  It was the context in which it was sent that was the problem.  But as I sat down to write that response, I thought better of it.  It wasn’t going to do any good.  It wasn’t going to change his mind about the content or the context.  Despite the new situation, this was a familiar tone from him.  This was the “I’m right and that’s all there is to say about it” Pops.  There’s no reasoning with that.

Sadly, Pops passed away a few years ago.  I don’t like that this was how we ended things, but there was no coming back from it.  I wasn’t going to fight with him, which I know is what would have happened if we had gotten back in touch, so I simply let him go.  I know he knew that was why.  Nobody had to explicitly say it; he was no fool.

So why come back to it now?  Simply because I’ve been doing some housecleaning (literally), and I came across it once again.  And it brought all those feelings back up.  Honestly, I think it’s a fascinating look into his perspective on things and where it does and does not match up with my own.  I’m not here to air my family drama.  It’s just something I’ve needed to get out there for half a decade.  It’s been bugging me.  Much like my Pops, I can’t let things go without being said… at least not for long.

So, in my typical fashion, I’ll quote the whole thing and interject where I find it necessary.  The paragraphs, punctuation, emphases, and (very few) spelling errors are all exactly as they are on the printed pages.

RESPONSE TO JOSHUA’S FACEBOOK STATEMENTS REGARDING ‘LOOTING’.

JOSHUA’S COMMENTS ATTEMPT TO COMPARE THE LOOTING BY THE RIOTERS INVOLVED IN THE DEMONSTRATIONS ARISING FROM THE MURDER OF A MAN IN MINNEAPOLIS, WITH THE EVENT WHEN JESUS WENT INTO THE TEMPLE AND OVERTURNED THE TABLES OF THE MONEY-CHANGERS.  I EMPHASIZE THE WORD RIOTERS BECAUSE THEIR BEHAVIOR IS NOT THAT OF A PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATOR BUT IS THE BEHAVIOR OF ONE WHO IS DEPRAVED.  I WILL COVER THAT DEFINITION IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS ARTICLE.

Okay, let’s stop right there.  Firstly, at no point did I compare the looting to Jesus cleaning up the temple.  I don’t recall my exact words, and at this point it’d be a pain in the ass to hunt down the precise post that my uncle showed to him, but I can factually state that there has never been any time at which I made that comparison.  Just flat-out did not happen.  I have repeatedly stated that righteous outrage resulting in violence is not contrary to Jesus’s teachings or actions, and I use the temple incident as an example, but that is not comparing the temple cleansing to looting or even property damage (which you’ll see in a moment that Pops, as a good conservative, was very concerned about).

Secondly, note the invocation of the “peaceful demonstrator.”  As any good conservative knows, the only legitimate and valid protest is entirely nonviolent.  It doesn’t matter how stacked against you the system is; you have to stand there and take the water cannons, the billy clubs, the attack dogs, and the bullets.  There can be no fighting back, and there certainly, under any circumstances, cannot be any disorder, vandalism, or looting!  Only “peaceful” protest is acceptable to the good conservative.

Which is to say, never make anyone uncomfortable, don’t attack the oppressive systems, and whatever you do, don’t block traffic; that’s such a hassle.

FIRST WE MUST SET THE SCENE: AN INEXCUSABLE MURDER HAD BEEN COMMITTED WITH MR. FLOYD AS THE VICTIM.  THE MURDERERS WERE DRESSED AS POLICE OFFICERS ENTRUSTED WITH UPHOLDING THE LAW OF THE LAND.  I EMPHASIZE “DRESSED” BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY THING THAT IDENTIFIED THEM AS POLICE OFFICERS.  A GENUINE POLICE OFFICER WILL UPHOLD THE LAW BUT WILL NEVER TAKE THE LAW INTO HIS OWN HANDS, BECOMING THE ARRESTING OFFICER, JUDGE, JURY AND HIGH EXECUTIONER.  WHEN ONE CROSSES THAT LINE HE OR SHE IS NO LONGER A POLICE OFFICER THEY HAVE BECOME AN OFFENDER OF THE LAW.  THAT IS THE OBSERVATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A POLICE DEPARTMENT CHAPLAIN.

And that’s also the observation of someone who does not recognize that the entire system of “community policing” is an oppressive one, inherently racist, and rooted in the fugitive slave patrols that existed prior to and during the Civil War.  As I’ve pointed out many times before, any police academy of any worth teaches that fact.  Personally, I learned that fact in my high school civics class in North Carolina — which, I will remind you, is one of the states that committed treason to form a terrorist organization created in the name of upholding slavery.  They know that history well, because they were among those who participated in it.  All “genuine police officers” operate within that system, which is corrupt by design.

These murders were not committed by “a few bad apples.”  As I’m also fond of pointing out, the rest of that axiom is “spoil the whole bunch.”  But in this case, it’s not even that the bad apples spoiled the whole bunch.  It’s that the basket holding all of them is made of rotted, moldy wood.  There are undeniably good people who go into police forces wanting nothing more than to “protect and serve,” but they literally cannot do that in the idealized way that we’ve been taught to think of police work, because the system is set up, by intent, to do the exact opposite.

IT IS AN AFFRONT TO THE INTELLIGENCE OF ALL LAW ABIDING CITIZENS TO REFER TO THIS INCIDENT AS “THE DEATH OF MR. FLOYD.”  YES!  MR. FLOYD DIED.  BUT NOT OF NATURAL CAUSES.  HE WAS MURDERED BY A GROUP OF DEPRAVED MEN.  THE DICTIONARY DEFINES DEPRAVED AS PERVERTED, CORRUPT MORALLY.  SINCE WE ARE COMPARING THIS SITUATION WITH AN EVENT IN THE BIBLE I WILL REFER TO THE BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF ‘DEPRAVED’.  THE HEBREW WORD IS (GK8845) sahat, MEANING CORRUPT, THE DESTROYING OF THE MIND.  THE BIBLE IS ALSO WRITTEN IN GREEK AND THE WORD IS (GK99) adokimos, MEANING DISQUALIFIED, REJECTED, UNFIT AND WORTHLESS; ALL REFERRING TO THE MIND OF THE PERSON.  THEY ARE INCAPABLE OF RIGHT THINKING.

On that we most certainly agree.  But here’s the thing about the inherently racist, violent, power-protecting system of “community policing”: it seeks out those depraved people.  It depends upon those who seek to act extrajudicially to enforce the dictates of moneyed and powerful interests, especially white supremacists.  Is it less “white supremacists” and more “moneyed and powerful interests” today as opposed to years or decades past?  Not if the still-current pattern of CEOs and elected officials — both categories being overwhelmingly made up of white men — outing themselves as racists is any indication.

ANOTHER VERY DETAILED DEFINITION OF ‘DEPRAVED’ IS FOUND IN PAUL’S LETTER TO THE ROMAN BELIEVERS: 1:18-32.  TO AVOID ANY MISUNDERSTANDING I WILL QUOTE FROM THAT LETTER: “THE WRATH OF GOD IS BEING REVEALED FROM HEAVEN AGAINST ALL THE GODLESSNESS AND WICKEDNESS OF MEN WHO SUPPRESS THE TRUTH BY THEIR WICKEDNESS, SINCE WHAT MAY BE KNOWN ABOUT GOD IS PLAIN TO THEM BECAUSE GOD HAS MADE IT PLAIN TO THEM,

FOR SINCE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD GOD’S INVISIBLE QUALITIES, HIS ETERNAL POWER AND DIVINE NATURE, HAVE BEEN CLEARLY SEEN, BEING UNDERSTOOD FROM WHAT HAS BEEN MADE, SO THAT MEN ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE.  FOR ALTHOUGH THEY KNEW GOD, THEY NEITHER GLORIFIED HIM AS GOD, NOR GAVE THANKS TO HIM BUT THEIR THINKING BECAME FUTILE AND THEIR FOOLISH HEARTS WERE DARKENED.  ALTHOUGH THE CLAIMED TO BE WISE THEY BECAME FOOLS AND EXCHANGED THE GLORY OF THE IMMORTAL GOD FOR IMAGES MADE TO LOOK LIKE MORTAL MAN, BIRDS, ANIMALS AND REPTILES.  THEREFORE GOD GAVE THEM OVER IN THE SINFUL DESIRES OF THEIR HEARTS TO SEXUAL IMPURITY FOR THE DEGRADING OF THEIR BODIES WITH ONE ANOTHER.  THEY EXCHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR LIE, AND WORSHIPED AND SERVED CREATED THINGS RATHER THAN THE CREATOR WHO IS FOREVER PRAISED.  AMEN!”

VERSE 28 CONTINUES: SINCE THEY DID NOT THINK IT WORTHWHILE TO RETAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, HE GAVE THEM OVER TO A DEPRAVED MIND, TO DO WHAT OUGHT NOT BE DONE.  THEY HAVE BECOME FILLED WITH EVERY KIND OF WICKEDNESS, EVIL, GREED AND DEPRAVITY.  THEY ARE FULL OF ENVY, MURDER, STRIFE, DECEIT AND MALICE.  THEY ARE GOSSIPS, SLANDERERS, GOD-HATERS, INSOLENT, ARROGANT AND BOASTFUL; THEY INVENT WAYS OF DOING EVIL; THEY DISOBEY THEIR PARENTS; THEY ARE SENSELESS, FAITHLESS, HEARTLESS, RUTHLESS.  ALTHOUGH THEY KNEW GOD’S RIGHTEOUS DECREE THAT HOSE WHO DO SUCH THINGS DESERVE DEATH, THEY NOT ONLY CONTINUE TO DO THESE VERY THINGS BUT ALSO APPROVE OF THOSE WHO PRACTICE THEM.”  NOTICE I HAVE NOT GIVEN YOU MY OPINION, I HAVE GIVEN YOU THE WORD OF GOD. IF YOU DISAGREE; TALK TO GOD ABOUT IT!

Again, I take no issue with any of that.  And in a very Pops-like manner, he didn’t go out of his way to note the all-too-common “clobber verse” context of that passage.  Your typical Southern Baptist minister would have thrown in something about “the gays” there.  As I’ve pointed out many times before, Pops was not the typical Southern Baptist minister.

THAT IN NO WAY INFERS THAT THE MURDERERS WERE ‘OUT OF THEIR MINDS’ THEREBY GIVING THEM THE PLEA OF TEMPORARY INSANITY.  THOSE MEN KNEW EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE DOING AND THEY KNEW EXACTLY HOW TO GO ABOUT KILLING MR. FLOYD.  THAT MEANS THEY WERE NOT INSANE THEY ARE TOTALLY CORRUPT AND WORTHLESS TO SOCIETY.

Agreed in whole.

NOW LET’S CONSIDER THE EVENT INVOLVING JESUS IN THE TEMPLE.

FIRST WE MUST SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT REGARDING THE LAWS FOR THE TEMPLE.  2^ND CHRONICLES CHAPTER 6:6 TELLS US “NOW I HAVE CHOSEN JERUSALEM FOR MY NAME TO BE THERE.

THAT DIRECTIVE FROM GOD DECLARED THAT JESUS WOULD BE PRESENT IN THAT PLACE.  THE APOSTLE PAUL’S LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS 2:9 REMINDS US “THEREFORE GOD EXALTED HIM (JESUS) TO THE HIGHEST PLACE AND GAVE HIM THE NAME THAT IS ABOVE EVERY NAME.”  THE TEMPLE WAS JESUS’ HOUSE.

THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM IS SPECIFICALLY NAMED IN ORDER TO AVOID ANY CONFUSION ABOUT SOME OTHER ‘TEMPLES’ THAT WERE NOT THE DWELLING PLACE OF GOD’S NAME. THE LAWS FOR THE USE OF THE TEMPLE ARE PRESENTED IN TOTAL IN THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS FOR YOU TO REVIEW.  THOSE LAWS HAD NOT BEEN AMENDED OR REVISED DURING THE LIFE-TIME OF JESUS AND WERE TO BE STRICTLY ADHERED TO.  ANY VIOLATION OF THOSE LAWS RESULTED IN THE OFFENDER BEING HELD GUILTY BEFORE GOD ALMIGHTY.

WE CANNOT AND NEED NOT GO OVER ALL OF THOSE LAWS AT THIS WRITING, HOWEVER I WILL SUMMARIZE THE ONES THAT RELATE SPECIFICALLY TO THE EVENT UNDER CONSIDERATION.  THE TEMPLE WAS THE ONLY PLACE FOR PEOPLE TO BRING THEIR SACRIFICIAL ANIMAL TO BE PRESENTED TO THE PRIEST TO VERIFY ITS ACCEPTABLE QUALITY.  “THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, SPEAK TO AARON, HIS SONS AND ALL ISRAEL, ‘IF ANY OF YOU, EITHER AN ISRAELITE OR AN ALIEN LIVING IN ISRAEL PRESENTS A GIFT FOR A BURNT OFFERING TO THE LORD, EITHER TO FULFILL A VOW OR AS A FREE-WILL OFFERING, YOU MUST PRESENT A MALE WITHOUT DEFECT FROM THE CATTLE, SHEEP OR GOATS IN ORDER THAT IT MAY BE ACCEPTED ON YOUR BEHALF.  DO NOT BRING ANYTHING WITH A DEFECT BECAUSE IT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED ON YOUR BEHALF.

GOD HAD ESTABLISHED THE RULES OF CONDUCT FOR THOSE WHO ENTER INTO THE TEMPLE, GOD’S HOUSE, THEREFORE JESUS’ HOUSE BECAUSE HE IS THE SON OF GOD WHOSE NAME WAS DWELLING IN THIS PARTICULAR HOUSE.  THE PEOPLE WERE TO COME THERE TO WORSHIP GOD AND BRING THEIR OWN ANIMALS TO MAKE SACRIFICES FOR THEIR SINS.  THE PRIESTS WERE TO EXAMINE THE SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS TO ENSURE THEY WERE WITHOUT DEFECT THEREBY MAKING IT ACCEPTABLE.

THIS IS THE RECORD OF THE EVENT BEING COMPARED TO LOOTING AND RIOTING. JOHN 2:12-22 DESCRIBES THE OPENING SCENE FOR THIS EVENTFUL WEEKEND.  ON THURSDAY, THE 10^TH DAY OF THE MONTH JESUS MADE HIS PROCESSION INTO JERUSALEM IN PREPARATION FOR THE FEAST OF PASSOVER.  HIS ‘TRIUMPHAL ENTRY’ INTO JERUSALEM WAS SYMBOLIC OF THE PASSOVER LAMB BEING SELECTED AND DISPLAYED AS THE ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE FOR THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE.

Again, no such comparison was ever made, but let’s continue all the same.

IT IS ACCEPTABLE TO COMPARE HIS ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM WITH A ‘PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION’ AS IT IS CALLED TODAY.  “AS HE WENT ALONG, PEOPLE SPREAD THEIR COATS ON THE ROAD.  WHEN HE CAME NEAR THE PLACE WHERE THE ROAD GOES DOWN THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, THE WHOLE CROWD OF DISCIPLES BEGAN JOYFULLY TO PRAISE GOD IN LOUD VOICES FOR ALL THE MIRACLES THEY HAD SEEN: ‘BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ (THAT IDENTIFIED HIM AS THE RIGHTFUL OWNER AND OCCUPANT OF THE TEMPLE). ‘PEACE IN HEAVEN AND GLORY IN THE HIGHEST!’  “WHEN JESUS ENTERED JERUSALEM THE WHOLE CITY WAS STIRRED. THE GREEK WORD USED HERE IS (GK4940) seio, MEANING TO BE PUT INTO COMMOTION, TURMOIL, AGITATED, YET IN ALL OF THAT EMOTIONAL AND EXCITING ACTIVITY THERE WAS , NO RIOTING, NO STEALING OF PROPERTY, NO BREAKING OF WINDOWS, NO DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY, NO ROCK AND BOTTLE THROWING.  NO SETTING FIRE TO THE PLACE OF WORSHIP, NO PHYSICAL HARM WAS DONE AT ALL!! THOSE WHO TOOK PART IN THE CELEBRATION DID NOT BERATE OR ATTEMPT TO RIDICULE THOSE WHO WERE NOT CELEBRATING THE ARRIVAL OF THE ONE WHOM THEY REGARDED AS THE MESSIAH.  THE OTHERS WHO DID NOT KNOW EXACTLY WHAT WAS GOING ON DID NOT ATTEMPT TO DISRUPT OR TO DO HARM TO THOSE PARTICIPATING.  (THAT INDICATES VERY CLEARLY THAT THIS WAS A PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION’).

Again, we have the reliance upon the narrative of, and demand for, “peaceful demonstration,” with a heavy focus on condemning rioting, theft, vandalism, arson, and any physical harm.

Now, as I stated before, I don’t like any of those things, but like Dr. King, I fully understand them.  I will never condemn them.  And if I were conversing with an attentively listening grandfather, I’d ask him this: which do you value more?  The innate worth of human life, even that of just one person, or the money that is lost in rioting, fires, looting, and destruction of property?

Because that’s what this comes down to.  Many of God’s children have been murdered in the name of “law enforcement,” which since this country’s Civil War has only increasingly meant “upholding the existing structures of power.”  To be more concerned with the monetary losses incurred in the response to those murders, rather than destroying the murderous system — which will not stop murdering as long as it still exists — is to demonstrate in your actions that you value the property more than you value human life.

Your outrage should be directed at the cause of the problem, not the symptoms.

THERE WERE SOME ‘PROTESTORS’ IN THE CROWD AS WELL.  SOME OF THE PHARISEES, TEACHERS OF ‘RELIGIOUS LAW’ DEMANDED THAT JESUS TELL THE PEOPLE TO BE QUIET.  AFTER JESUS EXPLAINED THAT EVEN IF THE PEOPLE SUDDENLY WENT SILENT, GOD WOULD CAUSE THE ROCKS TO CRY OUT IN HIS SUPPORT AND PRAISE.  THE PROCESSION CONTINUED AND JESUS ENTERED THE TEMPLE AREA.

If only the rocks would have cried out in mourning for George Floyd.

HERE IS WHERE WE SEPARATE TRUTH FROM LIES! THE SCRIPTURAL, TRUTHFUL ACCOUNT, READS: “THEN HE (JESUS) ENTERED THE TEMPLE AREA AND BEGAN DRIVING OUT THOSE WHO WERE SELLING (ANIMALS FOR SACRIFICE).  NOTICE THAT THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN PROCLAIMED AS THE KING DID NOT GO TO THE CITY COURTHOUSE OR TO A PALACE FOR A FORMAL CELEBRATION.  HE WENT TO THE TEMPLE BECAUSE HIS KINGDOM IS SPIRITUAL AND NOT A KINGDOM OF THIS WORLD.  JESUS RULES IN HOLY THINGS AND THE TEMPLE IS WHERE HE EXERCISED HIS AUTHORITY.  JESUS DECLARED HIS AUTHORITY IN HIS STATEMENT TO THE DISCIPLES JUST PRIOR TO HIS ASCENSION BACK TO HEAVEN: “ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME” (BY GOD THE FATHER). (MATTHEW 20:18) TODAY HE DOES NOT RULE IN THE TEMPLE BUILDING BECAUSE IT WAS LATER DESTROYED BY RIOTERS IN A.D.70.  HOWEVER, JESUS IS STILL THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS AND HE RULES IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE WHO PUT THEIR TRUST IN HIM AND OBEY HIS COMMANDS FOR GODLY LIVING.

THIS VISIT TO THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM OCCURRED IN SIMILAR FASHION TO HIS FIRST VISIT FOLLOWING HIS BAPTISM BY JOHN THE BAPTIZER.  HE FOUND THE SITUATION EXACTLY AS HE FOUND IT THREE YEARS EARLIER.  (JOHN 2:14) I WILL REFER TO THE DETAILS OF THAT FIRST ‘CLEANSING’ BECAUSE IT WAS SO THOROUGH AND COMPLETELY EFFECTIVE THAT THE SAME PROCEDURE WOULD PROVE TO BE COMPLETELY EFFECTIVE AGAIN.

There’s some debate about there being two separate events.  However, if we do take it for fact that there were two separate events, then apparently that first cleansing wasn’t all that effective, huh?  Those illicit practices came back after Jesus left the first time and had apparently worsened if Thomas Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo are correct.  But we’ll come back to that in a moment.

AS HE ENTERED THE COURT OF THE GENTILES HE FOUND THAT IT HAD BEEN CONVERTED INTO WHAT WE WOULD CALL TODAY ‘A FLEA MARKET’.  BEING PART OF THE HOLY TEMPLE IT WAS COMPLETELY DEFILED WITH THE STENCH AND THE FILTH OF THE MANY ANIMALS NOW ‘ON SALE’ IN A PLACE THAT WAS NEVER INTENDED TO BE A PLACE OF MERCHANDISE FOR SALE.  THE TEMPLE LAW ALLOWED FOR EACH WORSHIPER TO BRING HIS OWN ANIMAL FOR SACRIFICE HOWEVER THE JUDGES APPOINTED BY ANNAS, THE ILLEGITIMATE HIGH PRIEST, IN ALL LIKELIHOOD WOULD DISQUALIFY YOUR ANIMAL AND INSIST THAT YOU PURCHASE ONE OF THEIRS.  THE DEALERS OF CATTLE AND SHEEP WOULD CHARGE OUTRAGEOUS PRICES FOR ANIMALS THAT WERE NOT WITHOUT DEFECT. THOSE WHO SOLD PIGEONS WOULD CHARGE THE EQUIVALENT OF $4.00 FOR A PIGEON NORMALLY PRICED AT FIVE CENTS.  THE TABLES OF THE MONEY CHANGERS WERE MANNED BY ‘BROKERS’ WHO REQUIRED VISITORS FROM OTHER REGIONS WITH DIFFERENT CURRENCY TO TRADE THEIR COINS FOR THE REQUIRED ‘LAWFUL JEWISH’ COINS AT A HIGH RATE OF EXCHANGE.  THE LEADERS IN THE TEMPLE WOULD ALSO CHARGE EXTREMELY HIGH RENT FOR THE SPACE USED BY THE VENDORS.  JESUS DID NOT COMPLAIN TO THE CHIEF PRIESTS BECAUSE HE KNEW THEY WERE THE ONES WHO MADE ALL OF THESE COMMERCIAL, MONEY MAKING ARRANGEMENTS.

HIS FIRST MOVE TOWARD CLEANSING THE TEMPLE WAS TO DRIVE OUT THE SHEEP, OXEN AND THOSE WHO SOLD THEM.  CONTRARY TO THE CUSTOMARY PRACTICE OF RIOTERS AND LOOTERS WHO STOLE FOR THEIR OWN BENEFIT, JESUS DID NOT SEIZE OR IMPOUND THE ANIMALS.  HE USED THE ROPES TO WHIP THE ANIMALS IN ORDER TO DRIVE THEM OUT IN THE SAME WAY THE WERE DRIVEN INTO THE COURT AREA.  TAKE NOTE THAT JESUS DID NOT USE THE WHIP ON THE OFFENDERS. HE USED THE WHIP ONLY ON THE ANIMALS SO NO PHYSICAL HARM WAS DONE TO ANY MAN INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS.

Pops should have known better than this.  My mother, his daughter, is a goatherd.  Literally.  She breeds, raises, milks, and sends to the meat processor, goats.  She and I both live in a very rural area of Michigan where there are cattle, goat, and sheep farms all over the place.  I can tell you from my own personal experience: you do not need to whip farm animals to get them out of an enclosure.  They will escape entirely of their own volition, even when you think you’ve built a suitable pen!  Not even a simple electric fence will stop the most determined goat; they will find a way over, under, or through it.  Some farmers have even found it necessary to use electric fence netting to prevent escapes.  And there certainly weren’t any electric fences in Jesus’s time.

THEN JESUS WENT TO THE TABLES OF THE MONEY-CHANGERS AND OVERTURNED THE TABLES BUT DID NO PHYSICAL HARM TO THE MEN ATTENDING THEM NOR DID HE DAMAGE OR DESTROY THE TABLES. HE THREW THE MONEY ON THE GROUND SHOWING HIS CONTEMPT FOR THE WAY IN WHICH IT WAS BEING EXCHANGED.  NOTICE JESUS DID NOT TAKE THE MONEY FOR HIMSELF IN CONTRAST TO THE RIOTERS AND LOOTERS WHO TAKE EVERYTHING THEY CAN GET THEIR HANDS ON.  FOLLOWING THAT HE WENT TO THOSE WHO SOLD DOVES TO THE POOR FOR THEIR SACRIFICES.  HE TOLD THEM TO TAKE THESE BIRDS OUT OF THE TEMPLE BECAUSE THEY WERE BROUGHT IN FOR THE PURPOSE OF MONETARY GAIN FOR THE SELLERS.

To start with, Jesus was not showing his contempt for “the way in which [the money] was being exchanged.”  He was outraged that it was being done at all for the reasons why it was being done, and especially the fact that it was being done in the temple.  I’ll give you all four verses in two different translations: my preferred New Revised Standard Version, and his preferred New International Version:

Matthew 21:12
NRSV: “Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves.”
NIV: “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there.  He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.”

Mark 11:15 & 16
NRSV: “Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.”
NIV: “On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there.  He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.”

Luke 19:45
NRSV: “Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there;”
NIV: “When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling.”

John 2:15 & 16
NRSV: “Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.  He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’”
NIV: “So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.  To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!'”

Now, coming back to the whipping, you’ll notice that the only one of those four verses, in either translation, that says anything that could be interpreted as saying that Jesus only used the whip to drive out the animals, is in John’s gospel.  All three prior authors say Jesus “drove out the sellers” and “overturned the tables of the money-changers.”  Not Matthew, Mark, nor Luke even mention Jesus using physical means to remove the animals.  All of the physical removal is of the people.  John is the outlier there.

In fact, there’s an explicit contradiction between at least three gospel authors.  Matthew and Mark say that Jesus wouldn’t allow anyone to carry any merchandise through the temple courts, which indicates the animals left on their own. John says that Jesus told the dove sellers to remove their birds, which would mean those sellers had to carry the birds through the temple courts.  So which is it?  Did Jesus tell the merchants not to carry anything out, or did he order the dove sellers to do so?  And why only them?

For those reasons and others, John’s account has been debated from the very beginning.  It may have been historical, or it may have been metaphorical.  It may have been a second event, or it may have been the same as the others.  It may justify righteous violence, or it may not.  This whole rant that my grandfather sent me is not the first time this has been in dispute, and it absolutely will not be the last.

Now, I don’t know whether John’s description is of an historical event or if it’s a metaphor, or if it’s a separate event from what the others described.  But given the text and context of the earlier three passages, it’s pretty obvious that Jesus used physical force against the property and persons of the merchants and money-changers in the temple.  You don’t flip tables without breaking a few things, and that whip was not for the animals.  To say otherwise is just plain ridiculous.

IN ALL THREE INCIDENTS WE SEE THAT JESUS DID NOT DO THE SAME THINGS THAT THE RIOTERS AND LOOTERS ALWAYS DO, HE DID NO PHYSICAL HARM TO PEOPLE, ANIMALS OR PROPERTY; HE DID NOT PICK UP THE MONEY FROM THE FLOOR AND TAKE IT FOR HIMSELF AS THE RIOTERS AND LOOTERS ALWAYS DO.  IN DRIVING OUT THE ANIMALS HE MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR THE OWNERS TO RETRIEVE THEM WITHOUT LOSS.  HE LEFT THE MONEY ON THE FLOOR TO BE PICKED UP BY THE TRADERS OR IN CASE THEY DID NOT RETURN FOR IT THE MONEY WOULD GO INTO THE TREASURY TO MAINTAIN THE TEMPLE, NOT INTO ANYONE’S POCKET FOR GAIN.  HE WAS VERY CAREFUL NOT TO TURN THE DOVES AND PIGEONS LOOSE BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT BE RETRIEVED BY THE OWNERS.  JESUS SHOWS COMPASSION IN ALL OF THESE INCIDENTS, CAUSING NO HARM, DAMAGE OR LOSS TO THE PROPERTY OWNERS NOR TO THEIR PROPERTY.  AT THE SAME TIME HE UPHELD THE LAWS OF GOD REGARDING THE TEMPLE, HUMAN LIFE AND PERSONAL PROPERTY. I WOULD CHALLENGE ANYONE TO PROVIDE ON SHRED OF EVIDENCE THAT RIOTERS AND LOOTERS EVER SHOWED REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE OR RESPECT FOR THE PROPERTY OF THOSE THEY VICTIMIZE IN THE HISTORY OF THEIR OPERATIONS.  JESUS ALSO GAVE THE OFFENDERS THE REASON FOR HIS ACTIONS. BEING THE SON OF GOD HE WAS THE RIGHTFUL ‘OWNER’ OF THE TEMPLE.  IT WAS GOD’S HOUSE, JESUS WAS GOD IN HUMAN FLESH WHICH QUALIFIED HIM AS THE RIGHTFUL OWNER OF THE PROPERTY.  HE DESIRED THAT HIS FATHER’S HOUSE WOULD REMAIN A HOUSE OF PRAYER AND THEY HAD TURNED IT INTO A DEN OF ROBBERS.  IN THE PROCESS OF SECURING HIS HOUSE, CLEANSING HIS HOUSE AND PROTECTING HIS HOUSE JESUS DID NOT DO ANYTHING OUTSIDE OF THE LAW, DID NOT DO HARM OR DESTRUCTION TO PEOPLE OR PROPERTY.  JESUS WAS NOT JEALOUS OF THOSE WHO WORKED HARD AT THEIR BUSINESS AND LEGALLY EARNED MONEY TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES.  THAT IS A MORALLY CORRECT APPROACH TO LIFE.  JESUS DID NOT TAKE UNFAIR ADVANTAGE OF THE OFFENDERS.  I REFER TO THE GREEK LANGUAGE BEING THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE IN THIS INSTANCE: (NT91) THAYER’S GREEK LEXICON) adikeoo, IN THE ABSOLUTE TENSE, MEANS UNFAIR, TO ACT UJUSTLY OR WICKEDLY; TO BE A CRIMINAL; TO HAVE VIOLATED THE LAW IN SOME WAY; TO DO WRONG AND TO HURT.  HE DID NOT TAKE REVENGE ON THEM OR TAKE THEIR LIVES ALL OF WHICH WERE WITHIN HIS POWER TO DO SINCE HE IS THE GIVER AND TAKER OF LIFE.

Again, I never claimed that Jesus did the same things that rioters and looters do.  I will keep stating that fact as many times as anyone makes the mistake of claiming that I did.

But beyond that, the exact same events that he’s condemning contain numerous examples of the rioters and looters — yes, those depraved rioters and looters! — showing value for human life and even property.  There were times when those who were wrongfully convinced to participate helped others out of harm’s way.  There were even reports that I recall of looters returning money and merchandise to stores they robbed because they realized they were causing more harm than what was necessary, in their own perspective, to send the message.

These things were reported in local independent media.  The corporate-owned media who are just as dedicated to protecting the existing power structures as the police are?  Not so much.

Next, note the emphasis he places here: “JESUS DID NOT DO ANYTHING OUTSIDE OF THE LAW.”  And Pops is not only talking about spiritual or traditional law, he’s talking about civil law, which he reinforces later.

Couple of things there.

One, I would reckon that waltzing into a house of worship like you own the place and forcibly removing people who you don’t think should be there was probably against the law in those days just as much as it is now.  Even if it hadn’t been, at the very least it would have been frowned upon by the spiritual leaders who had been legally placed in charge of it (and, as we’re told in all four passages, it was).

And two, if it had been “outside of the law” to heal a sick person, Jesus would have done it anyway.  Obeying civil law was not Jesus’s concern.  He made that clear every time he stated that his kingdom was not of this world.  “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”  Mark 12:17 (NIV).  Obey the law of the land… up to and until the point that it comes into conflict with what God tells you to do.  Obeying God takes precedence.

And no, that’s not me saying that rioting and looting is “obeying God,” either.  Just, y’know, so nobody gets as confused as my Uncle Kevin and Pops did.

THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE MURDER OF MR. FLOYD AND ALL OF THE RIOTERS AND LOOTERS WHO HAVE TAKEN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE OF A TRAGEDY TO PROMOTE THEIR OWN CAUSE AND GAIN BY THEFT, AND ACHIEVE THEIR ‘EMOTIONAL HIGH’ FALL INTO THE CATEGORY OF ‘DEPRAVED MEN’ (AND WOMEN IF THEY PARTICIPATE IN RIOTING AND LOOTING).  THE REASON THEY GIVE FOR THEIR ACTIONS IS THEIR CLAIM THAT INJUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE.  THAT IS TRUE, MR. FLOYD WAS MURDERED UNJUSTLY, HOWEVER ONE INJUSTICE DOES NOT CREATE A REASON FOR ANOTHER INJUSTICE TO BE DONE.  RIOTING AND LOOTING ARE EQUALLY AN INJUSTICE TO SOCIETY AS MURDER.  BOTH MUST BE PUNISHED ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF THE LAND.

To equate the depravity of Floyd’s murderers with the mindset of the rioters and looters is not only blatantly and logically incorrect, it’s outright insulting and damnable.  Injustice may not justify injustice, but one is UNDENIABLY worse than the other.  One is the hate-driven murder of a human being.  The other is property damage and theft resulting in monetary loss.  Again, this is valuing money over life.  It’s sickening, and it’s not something I ever anticipated coming from my Pops.

A WORD OF CAUTION FOR THOSE WHO ACCUSE JESUS OF DOING THE SAME THING THAT RIOTERS AND LOOTERS DO: THAT IS EQUAL TO SPEAKING EVIL OF SOMEONE AND BEING DECEITFUL (UNTRUTHFUL) IN YOUR OPINION OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD.  TO SPEAK PROFANELY OF JESUS AND TO CLASSIFY HIM AS DEPRAVED ALONG WITH RIOTERS AND LOOTERS IS AN ACT OF BLASPHEMY.  THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS DID WHEN THEY ACCUSED JESUS OF CASTING OUT DEMONS BY BEELZEBUB, THE PRINCE OF DEMONS, WHO IS SATAN HIMSELF.  THAT CAN BE FORGIVEN BY GOD BUT IT IS MUCH MORE BENEFICIAL FOR YOU TO AVOID THAT COMPLETELY.

Well then, good for me that I never did any such thing!

I WOULD CHALLENGE YOU, JOSH, TO LOOK AT THIS SITUATION FROM YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVE REGARDING THE APARTMENT IN WHICH YOU RESIDE.  HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO ENTERED YOUR APARTMENT, SET UP TABLES TO TELL ILLEGAL DRUGS, TO CARRY ON ILLEGAL BUSINESS, DEAL IN COUNTERFEIT MONEY, OR OTHER CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES WHICH WOULD RESULT IN THE DEFAMATION OF YOUR NAME AND CHARACTER?  IT IS “YOUR HOUSE” AND YOUR THINGS HAVE BEEN REPLACED WITH UNLAWFUL ACTIVITY.  I KNOW YOU WELL ENOUGH TO CONCLUDE THAT YOU WOULD BE MAD!!! YOU WOULD PROBABLY THROW OVER THEIR TABLES AND CHASE THEM OUT OF YOUR HOUSE.  YOU WOULD BE UPHOLDING THE CIVIL LAWS REGARDING YOUR LIFE AND PROPERTY AND THAT WOULD BE THE NORMAL, HUMAN REACTION.  YOU WOULD NOT WANT YOUR HOUSE TO BE KNOWN AS A PLACE OF ILLEGAL ACTIVITY HAVING YOUR NAME ATTACHED TO IT THEREBY DAMAGING YOUR REPUTATION.  THAT WOULD NOT MAKE YOU A RIOTER, LOOTER OR CRIMINAL ANY MORE THAN WHAT JESUS DID TO CLEAN UP “HIS HOUSE.”  “A WORD OF CAUTION TO THE WISE IS SUFFICIENT”!

Apparently he didn’t know me all that well.  If I don’t see any logical, rational sense to a law, I genuinely don’t care that anyone is violating it.  That’s literally a part of my OCPD: everything has to make sense to me, or else I just disregard it.  Hell, I might very well participate in the lawbreaking.  For example, I never saw any sense in marijuana prohibition, which only ever existed to imprison people for profit.  While I don’t use it myself, I’ve never had any problems with those who do so responsibly.

…Except one of my former neighbors who used to hole himself up in his apartment and hotbox the entire building.  That was annoying.  But that’s just a downside of apartment living.  He had every right to do it since we’ve legalized cannabis in Michigan, and I wouldn’t have ratted him out even before we legalized it.

In fact, the only time I ever did rat someone out — and I don’t know who it was — was when a water damage restoration crew had been fixing up the apartment below mine in a previous building, and they were smoking so heavily on the job that the smell came up through the floor.  I reported that because that was not responsible consumption.  You don’t work while inebriated, especially when the substance you’re using to inebriate yourself is still illegal.  And even then, I didn’t call the cops.  I called my landlord, who, in turn, called the crew’s company.  What happened after that, I don’t know, and it was out of my hands.  And I still feel a little hypocritical for doing it.

But if someone wanted to hang out with me and toke up?  I might have to crack a window, but I wasn’t gonna complain about it, even when it was illegal.  It’s not like it wasn’t taking place in the other apartments around me, in this building or the others I’ve lived in.  And it’s never harmed anyone except the people partaking.  I’ve had a few contact highs in my lifetime; I’m no worse off for it.

But all that being said…

YEAH, POPS!  WAY TO REITERATE THE EXACT POINT THAT I WAS MAKING! 🤣

Righteous outrage and physical response IS SOMETIMES CALLED FOR! That was all I was saying in the post that my uncle showed him.  I was not equating Jesus’s actions to rioting and looting.  I was saying that, contrary to what the racists, right-wingers, and Evangelical “Christians” (but I repeat myself) were arguing at the time, there is nothing un-Christian about physically responding — with appropriate force and measure — to an outrageously wrongful situation.  If there were, no Christian would ever become a police officer!

Note to the reader: Don’t.  Just don’t.  I know where you’re going with that.  I don’t necessarily disagree.  Just… don’t.  😆

The Patriarch Has Spoken!

If I don’t respect the authority of the state when I understand it to be wrong, whatever gave him the impression that I would respect the authority of “The Patriarch” when I understand him to be wrong?

But he wasn’t done!  Included in the same stapled stack of pages was a second letter.

Now this one I can tell you exactly the impetus for, and once again, it was my Uncle Kevin taking a post completely out of context.  Specifically, it was this meme:

In sharing that image on Facebook, I had added a sarcastic quip — very much in keeping with the spirit of the meme — that I was appalled at the actions of those thugs.  Because remember, the Nazi Republicans were using “thug” to demonize all protestors and anyone who might even be remotely close in ideology to “ANTIFA” (all caps because it’s an official organization, don’cha know).

Yes, my fellow patients: this portion literally came about because my uncle didn’t understand that his ideology was being lampooned.

RESPONSE TO JOSHUA’S POST REGARDING WORLD WAR 2 SOLDIERS AS ‘THUGS’.

I did not and do not.  But let’s continue all the same.

JOSH: BECAUSE YOU LIVE IN THIS GREAT COUNTRY CALLED THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA EVEN THOUGH AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME THERE SEEMS TO BE MORE EMPHASIS ON THE DIS-UNITED STATES BY THOSE WHO WISH AND INTEND TO DESTROY IT, I HAVE A FEW WORDS FOR YOU FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN LIFE.

Oh, Pops, you don’t want to get me started on those who wish and intend to destroy it.  You will not like what you learn.

IN THE YEAR 1941, THREE LEADERS OF COUNTRIES WITH SIMILAR POLITICAL GOALS; GERMANY’S ADOLF HITLER; ITALY’S BENITO MUSSOLINI AND JAPAN’S HIROHITO, JOINED FORCES IN ORDER TO TAKE CONTROL OF THE ENTIRE WORLD WITH THEIR FASCIST PHILOSOPHY OF CENTRALIZED, AUTOCRATIC DICTATORSHIP.  I WAS SIX YEARS OLD WHEN HIROHITO PLANNED AND COMPLETED THE ATTACK ON THE U.S. NAVY SHIPS HARBORED IN PEARL HARBOR.  THEY WERE NOT IN ATTACK MODE.  THEY WERE LOCATED THERE, ON STAND-BY, IN ORDER TO PROTECT COUNTRIES FRIENDLY TOWARD THE U.S. IN THE EVENT THAT THE FASCIST MOVEMENT THREATENED TO INVADE THEIR TERRITORIES.  AMERICAN NAVY PERSONNEL MADE UP OF ALL TYPES, COLORS AND RACES WERE WILLING TO VOLUNTEER TO SERVE IN THE EFFORT OF PROTECTING INNOCENT CITIZENS NO MATTER WHO THEY WERE OR WHERE THEY CAME FROM.  FOLLOWING THE ATTACK ON THE U.S. NAVY FLEET ON THAT DAY, PRESIDENT F.D. ROOSEVELT AND THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT DECLARED WAR ON THE THREE INSURGENT, AGGRESSOR COUNTRIES.

I am quite familiar with the history, yes.

MY OLDEST BROTHER, CHARLES EDWARD KEYSER, JR. WAS CALLED INTO THE MILITARY SERVICE IN THE U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPS BECAUSE OF HIS BACKGROUND IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING.  THAT WAS A VERY SAD TIME FOR ME.  EVEN AT ONLY 6 YEARS OF AGE WHEN “CHUCK” HAD TO GET ON THE TRAIN IN CRANFORD, NEW JERSEY TO GO AWAY FOR AT LEAST 4 YEARS.  MY MOM AND DAD THOUGHT IT WOULD BE TOO SAD FOR ME TO GO TO THE TRAIN STATION TO SEE HIM OFF SO THEY LEFT ME AT HOME WITH MY NEXT OLDER BROTHER WALT.  THE TRAIN WAS SCHEDULED TO LEAVE AT 7:30 A.M. AND MY PARENTS HAD ALREADY LEFT THE HOUSE TO DRIVE THE ONE MILE TO THE STATION.  I WOKE UP A FEW MINUTES AFTER 7 AND REALIZED THAT THEY HAD LEFT US BEHIND.  I CONVINCED WALT THAT WE SHOULD WALK THE ONE MILE DOWNTOWN AND TRY TO SEE CHUCK BEFORE HE GOT ON THE TRAIN.  WE DIDN’T QUITE MAKE IT BUT WE DID SEE HIM HANGING OUT OF ONE OF THE TRAIN CAR WINDOWS SAYING GOODBYE AS THE TRAIN PULLED OUT OF THE STATION.

CHUCK WAS THE OLDEST MEMBER OF MY FAMILY AND I WAS THE YOUNGEST.  CHUCK HAD JUST MARRIED FRANCES BANDY AND KNOWING HE WAS GOING TO BE GONE HE CONVERTED THE 3^RD FLOOR ATTIC IN OUR HOUSE INTO AN APARTMENT FOR HER TO LIVE IN UNTIL HE CAME HOME.  DURING THAT BUILDING PROCESS I WAS CONSTANTLY, CONSISTENTLY, ETERNALLY BY HIS SIDE.  WHEN HE WENT TO THE BASEMENT TO GET LUMBER, I WAS RIGHT BEHIND HIM; WHEN HE WENT TO GET NAILS, I WAS RIGHT BEHIND HIM.  NEEDLESS TO SAY I LEARNED A LOT ABOUT CONSTRUCTION DURING THOSE 6 MONTHS BEFORE HE HAD TO LEAVE.  HE CALLED ME “PAL” BECAUSE I WAS ALWAYS WITH HIM.

I was aware of the basic details of all of this.  Not his personal perspective, but the surface facts of what had happened.

DURING HIS TOUR OF DUTY HE WAS STATIONED IN A NUMBER OF PLACES I HAD NEVER HEARD OF AND HE ALWAYS MADE SURE I GOT AN ENVELOPE WITH THE STAMP FROM THAT COUNTRY BECAUSE HE KNEW I LIKED TO COLLECT STAMPS.  IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT AT THAT TIME I WOULD BOTHER TO SAVE A 3 CENT STAMP.  I REMEMBER TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHERE ALGIERS, ALGERIA WAS AND WHY DID IT HAVE TWO NAMES.  THEN MAIL CAME FROM SICILY, CORSICA, A NUMBER OF PLACES I CAN’T RECALL NOW, AND THEN A LETTER CAME TO FRAN, AFTER NOT HEARING FROM HIM FOR ABOUT TWO MONTHS.  THOSE 60 DAYS WERE NOT GOOD.  WE DID NOT KNOW IF HE HAD BEEN CAPTURED OR WAS LOST IN ACTION.

THE LETTER TOLD THE STORY: WHILE STATIONED IN ROMANIA A YOUNG GIRL WAS IN THE LOCAL HOSPITAL LIVING IN AN IRON LUNG MACHINE (THE PREDECESSOR TO THE VENTILATOR OF TODAY) IT WAS HER ONLY SOURCE OF LIFE AND BREATH.  UNFORTUNATELY IT BEGAN TO MALFUNCTION AND HER LIFE WAS IN DANGER.  CHUCK HEARD ABOUT IT.  HE WAS A MASTER SARGENT AND TOLD HIS COMMANDING OFFICER THAT HE WOULD LIKE PERMISSION TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL AND REPAIR THE IRON LUNG.  PERMISSION WAS GRANTED AND FOR THE NEXT 60 DAYS HE WORKED ON THAT MACHINE KEEPING IT OPERATING SO THE GIRL COULD BREATHE.  HE HAD NO TIME TO WRITE BECAUSE HE WAS SAVING SOMEONE’S LIFE.  HE PUT HIS OWN LIFE ON HOLD WHILE PERFORMING THIS HEROIC DUTY.  WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER IN 1946, CHUCK CAME HOME TO SEE THE ARTICLE IN THE NEWARK EVENING NEWS ABOUT HIS HEROIC DEED IN ROMANIA.  THE YOUNG GIRL MADE A TRIP TO THE U.S. AND TO NEW JERSEY IN PARTICULAR TO SAY ‘THANK YOU’ TO CHUCK FOR SAVING HER LIFE AND TO FRAN FOR HER TIME OF UNCERTAINTY NOT HEARING FROM HIM.  THIS IS ONLY ONE OF A LARGE NUMBER OF SIMILAR STORIES HE SHARED FOLLOWING THE END OF THE WAR.

I don’t know that I was familiar with the two-month silence and the rest of that story, but that’s wonderful to know!

MY SISTER, RUTH, (YOUR AUNT RUTH) MARRIED GEORGE S. NESS ALSO A SARGENT IN THE U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPS.  HE TOLD US OF A NUMBER OF TIMES THAT THE MEN HE WAS SERVING WITH LOST THEIR LIVES, NOT IN COMBAT, BUT WHILE STRINGING COMMUNICATION LINES, NOT DOING HARM TO ANYONE NOR TAKING THEIR PROPERTY.  YOUR OWN ‘GRANNY’ (CLAUDIA P. BENZING/KEYSER) HAD BROTHERS AND UNCLES WHO SERVED IN THE SAME MILITARY FORCES TO KEEP AMERICA FREE AND NOT ONE OF THEM WAS EVER REPRIMANDED FOR DOING ANYTHING OUTSIDE THE REALM OF TRUE MILITARY SERVICE.  YOUR GRANDFATHER COLLETTA WAS NOT INVOLVED IN WORLD WAR 2 BUT HE DID SERVE IN THE U.S. NAVY AND RISKED HIS LIFE PROTECTING THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY.  HAL GERSTENSCHLAGER, YOUR UNCLE AND AUNT MERRILYNNE’S HUSBAND, ALSO SPENT A GOOD NUMBER OF YEARS SERVING IN THE U.S. NAVY AIR FORCE AND WAS A TRAINER FOR THE FIRST ASTRONAUTS.  NONE OF THE PEOPLE MENTIONED ABOVE WERE EVER CONSIDERED TO BE THUGS, NOR DO THEY FIT THE DEFINITION, “GANGSTER, ASSASSIN”.  THEY WERE FINE UPSTANDING AMERICAN CITIZENS WHO STOOD UP FOR FREEDOM AND THE LIBERTY WHICH YOU BENEFIT FROM TODAY.

I was aware of most of that.  Honestly, I cannot comprehend how he thought I knew none of this.  I was 35 years old when he wrote it, and I come from a family of storytellers, many of them on my maternal side.

And to presume to know me so well, only to think that I would seriously accuse the American troops who fought in World War II of being “thugs” or “gangsters” (some were assassins, we very much developed our special forces in that war, but for a good cause), let alone accuse any of my own family members who I knew to be honorable military servicemen of anything less than behavior becoming thereof…

Was he partaking?  Was my uncle?  I mean, really!  What could have possibly given them the idea that I was engaging in anything other than a satirization of the right-wing apoplexy about the protests?  If either one of them knew me so well, that should have been the first possible explanation to come to their minds.  I live and breathe snark.  It’s my go-to reaction.

JOSH, GRANNY AND I KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE HAD TO GO THROUGH EVEN AT A VERY EARLY AGE WHEN LIFE WAS NOT ANYTHING LIKE WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUT EVEN THEN YOU HAD PEOPLE AROUND YOU WHO LOVED YOU AND HELPED TO GET YOU THROUGH THOSE TIMES.  EVEN NOW AT THIS STAGE OF YOUR LIFE A LOT OF THINGS COULD HAVE AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR YOU BUT YOU STILL HAVE PEOPLE AROUND YOU WHO LOVE YOU AND CARE ABOUT YOU.  YOU ALSO HAVE A HEAVENLY FATHER WHO KNOWS ALL ABOUT YOUR LIFE; THE GOOD TIMES, THOUGH THEY MAY SEEM FEW, BUT ALSO THE BAD TIMES AND THE TRYING TIMES.  BUT REMEMBER GOD IS STILL THERE FOR YOU EVEN THOUGH IT MAY NOT FEEL LIKE IT OR SEEM LIKE IT.

Here we see the perfect example of the default Evangelical assumption that when someone is perceived to be acting out (which I wasn’t, but he thought I was), it may also be a cry for help, but it’s a spiritual failing first and foremost.  I just wasn’t wasn’t relying on God hard enough, obviously.

Oh shit, there’s that snark again.  Damnit.  When will I learn?

WHEN THAT OTHER GUY NAMED JOSHUA HAD HIS TROUBLES, AND THEY WERE MANY, HE REMEMBERED TO TALK THOSE THINGS OVER WITH HIS HEAVENLY FATHER AND HE CAME OUT ON TOP EVERY SINGLE TIME.  I KNOW THAT IS NOT THE POPULAR OR ‘RELEVANT’ THING TO DO TODAY BUT I CAN TELL YOU FROM EXPERIENCE JUST LIKE I COULD TELL YOU ABOUT WORLD WAR 2….IT WORKS!!

Again, not a spiritual failing, and he had no indication that my prayer life was lacking in any way.

I COULD BE REALLY MAD AT YOU FOR MAKING THAT REMARK ABOUT OUR SOLDIERS, YOUR AND MY RELATIVES, BEING THUGS BUT WHEN GRANNY REMINDED ME THAT WE DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TOGETHER FOR ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME OF OUR FAMILY HISTORY AND SOME OF THE TRULY HEROIC THINGS YOUR RELATIVES HAD DONE, IT WAS TIME TO SHARE THAT WITH YOU.

BECAUSE A TRIO OF PEOPLE WHOM YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE BEEN MISINFORMED TO CONSIDER NOT TO BE ‘THUGS’.  ADOLF HITLER, BENITO MUSSOLINI, AND HIROHITO, HAD UNITED TO OVERTHROW THE WORLD, NOT ONLY THE U.S. AND INFLICT THEIR FASCIST DICTATORSHIP ON ANYONE AND EVERYONE IN THEIR PATH.  JUST TO REFRESH YOUR MEMORY, HITLER IS THE ‘THUG’ WHO MURDERED OVER 6 MILLION JEWISH PEOPLE SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY THEY WERE JEWISH AND HE HATED THEM.  IF YOU DO NOT CONSIDER HIM A THUG, LOOK THE WORD UP IN THE (NON-POLITICALLY CORRECT) DICTIONARY THAT READS; THUG: OUTLAW, A BRUTAL RUFFIAN; ASSASSIN; GANGSTER.  HITLER AND HIS TWO CO-CONSPIRATORS, AND SOME VERY PUBLIC FIGURES TODAY FIT THE DEFINITION OF THUG.

I never made such remarks.  It was a joke at the expense of an objectively incorrect worldview.  As much as I appreciate learning more details about my family, the whole motivation for him to pass that information along was not only the realization that he’d never taken the time to share it (and it’s not that we didn’t have the time together, it’s just that we never really sat down and talked about such things, or even talked on the phone about them), but also that he and his son completely missed the point of the joke.

In fact, if it weren’t for his son missing the point of the joke in the first place, Pops never would have even known about it. I know this because my Uncle Kevin told me he was passing these things along.  That was the only conduit through which Pops would have gotten them.  He had a Facebook profile, but he didn’t use it.  This was all down to Kevin misinterpreting things out of fear that another kid was headed in the wrong political direction, and him going to Will in outrage with an out-of-context meme as evidence of his assumption that, contrary to everything I have ever said on the topic, I apparently supported Hitler.

Yeah, this is that stupid.

If you’ve ever paid even a moment of attention to anything I’ve ever had to say about Hitler, you’d know that, had I been around at the time and had I the means to do so, I would have personally marched into Berlin and murdered that micro-penised failed art student myself, then desecrated his body to the point that anyone who even thought of doing anything about it immediately turned their guns against their own heads and followed their Fuhrer directly into the seventh pit of Hell.

Do I make myself perfectly clear?

Good.

Now then, he was saying?

OUR COUNTRY IS NOT PERFECT, AND NEITHER IS ANY OTHER, BUT YOU ARE STILL IN THE BEST OF ALL OF THEM BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE FREEDOM TO WRITE AND SAY WHATEVER YOU WANT TO ON SOCIAL MEDIA UNLESS THEY DECIDE TO SHUT YOU OFF AS THE GOVERNMENT OF MANY OF OUR NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES DO: CUBA; VENEZUELA, NOT TO MENTION WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU WROTE WHAT YOU FEEL IN IRAQ, IRAN, CHINA, RUSSIA, AND MANY OTHERS.

Let me tell you about a little part of the law called “Section 230,” what the Nazi Republicans want to do with it, and why…

GRANNY AND I HOPE THIS WILL BE SOME ENCOURAGEMENT TO YOU AS YOU FACETHE FUTURE.  KEEP IN MIND TOO, GOD IS THE ONE WHO HOLDS THE FUTURE FOR EVERYBODY.  The Patriarch Has Spoken!!  Again!

LOVE, GRANNY AND POPS

As my friends of the Jewish tradition would say, “oy vey.”

I loved my Pops dearly.  I truly and sincerely miss him.  But this is a side of him that I wish I had never known.