This past week one of the wrestlers I've watched for years on television, known as Jay Briscoe but real name Jamin Pugh, lost his life while traveling home with his 2 daughters and another individual when his car struck another and he died. His young daughters, one who is fighting to be able to walk through surgeries on her spine, were with their father coming back from a cheerleading competition and getting cookies. One last happy moment before the torment of loss and pain came down on them in an instant.
I bring this up because we can sometimes lose focus of why we do things here on earth. Our purpose. In all of the extroversion of discussing politics we can lose sight of the humility of those involved. Granted, some that we discuss have no such humility, but those folks we should try to use as an example for others.
One thing that helps me keep one foot in reality is trying to see myself in the positions of those who were victimized by tragedy. I imagine being in the car with my loved ones and the terror of seeing an oncoming vehicle veering straight into me. The impact of the crash. The sounds...the screams. It's why I can't watch a lot of movies or shows with lifelike victimization in them. I don't want to feel that, but in news stories like this, I can't help but put myself in the shoes of a man who lost his chance to be with his family.
I would like all of you to take a moment and think about how to make situations like that right. What can we do?
I imagine this audience, being the wonderful people that you are, that you too feel for your fellow man the way that I do. That your prayers, donations, and even face to face interactions with the victims of this tragedy or any other can be relied on when moments in people's lives like this occur. For that, I am proud to be able to speak with all of you this week and every week.
Tragedy is inevitable in this world. People get into accidents. People get sick and don't recover. But when a tragedy occurs because of the actions of a few people, then we try to apply some sort of system of justice to make right to those who survive with the trauma created by that tragedy. But anymore to me, justice is an abstract that can only be described as a state of emotional satisfaction.
In the case of Jay Briscoe there's no one to pursue, as far as the story goes now. No villains to pin our anger on. But in many other tragedies, such as the loss of life that occurred because of the actions of our government, those emotions and confusion that come with those losses can result in more injustices if we don't have the proper aim. In this kind of state we become vulnerable and susceptible to influence and suggestion. Grief and logic don't really get along well.
So why do I bring this up?
Because I watch people react emotionally in media all day. Making unfounded claims and accusations, spewing rhetoric that is regurgitated think tank garbage, and toying with the idea of violence. Well, I feel the same way for Mikki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, that I do for Jay Briscoe's wife. I'm shaken by that loss because I can feel what those 2 women are going through because I can imagine myself being there and getting the call that my loved one has tragically passed. The only small difference is that in the case of Ashli Babbitt there is still justice to pursue and nothing will fill that emotional void until it is delivered.
That justice cannot be put into a box and delivered the same way that it can't be delivered through violence or more blood shed. For justice to truly prevail in this world it most grow outside of the situations in which that victimization occurs and becomes an example for all of us, to satisfy all of our emotional needs, that it won't happen again.
Tragedy will come, but if its brought on by the minds and hands of men, people like us are the ones who bring justice by ensuring that the world knows and feels our emotional response to it in not a violent way but one that uses that force to educate and have others feel the same way as we do. Its that recognition that takes advantage of our humanity and the connection we all share on this earth.
I appreciate your words, as I'm sure the people there did as well. My condolences brother.
You feel that way because you are human my good man. Humans would choke up while reading Psalm 23 and a Robert Frost Poem over the casket of a family member this week, as I did. No doubt, this explains the great support you gave for Angry Tiger's expression on time, and how precious it is and how we are so foolish to waste the moments that could be shared with our loved ones.
Be at peace my friend. You have a long way to go in this life. As Robert Frost's poem ends with the line, "I have miles to go before I sleep" probably had a dual meaning for him as he was trying to beat the heat of a hot summer day, we can make good use of it for life and the short time we have in it.
Yours in liberty,
Vince