They see what they want to see

"So many people look at this case and they see what they want to see. They have a preconceived notion, and they tailor the facts to fit whatever they believe." Thomas Binger, Kenosha prosecutor.

We have no choice, in the moment, except to look through the lens we have. We all have mental models, bias, selectivity about what we notice. All of us.

One of the tasks in doing good parish development is to expand the number of lenses people make use of. There are many useful mental models in the fields of parish development, organization development, and ascetical theology. In training novices in the Order of the Ascension we begin by helping them to have an initial 9 lenses. The point is to confuse them. To shake up their assumptions. To broaden the range of what they see and what they take into consideration as they make decisions and take action. For many years too many clergy had too few lenses. It was all self-differentiated leadership or some other leadership model. Sometimes the broadening is done by looking at history. When I wrote Stay in the City many years ago it came as a revelation to many in our urban dioceses. The process of closing an average of one Philadelphia city parish per year for 40 years wasn't on our mental screen. We dealt with each case one-by-one. We lacked an awareness of a bigger picture. An unconscious bias. Comparing our history with what the Lutherans had been doing in Philadelphia offered a deeper perspective about what had actually been happening and what choices we actually had. In the last couple of weeks my understanding of the Rittenhouse case shifted when I saw the videos that the jury was seeing. Okay, maybe under the law it was self-defense. And I needed to acknowledge that and affirm the rule of law. But, but, but ....

He shouldn't have been there to begin with. He shouldn't have engaged in "open carry" with an AR-15. And to be fair, the two people chasing him with guns shouldn't have been doing that either. And the guy who ran after him as he retreated shouldn't have done that. And the guy with the skateboard ... And the governor and the police should have done more. On and on.

And more ...

Even if the verdict was legally correct, and absolutely necessary, it will legitimize others openly carrying guns into volatile situations. As does the lack of prosecuting those on "the other side" openly displaying and shooting handguns. 

I could go on. You too I bet. So many facets to this. 

I find myself trying to identify what lenses I'm looking through. My acceptance of the verdict is related to lenses of due process, jury trials, and the legitimacy of self-defense. I carry a deep appreciation for the traditions of liberal democracy. I also have a lens about systemic racism. When I was in my 20s I had two experiences of white neighbors calling the police because black friends were at my home. Two different homes, in two different neighborhoods. The struggle isn't over.  I also have a lens about handling guns based on about 60 hours of training and hundreds of hours on a range.

Another lens has been the daily office. Saying the prayers of the church each day for most of 55 years has offered me another way of understanding what I experience. Today I said the psalm, "He lifted the poor out of misery" and "whoever is wise will ponder these things, and consider well the mercies of the Lord." And from Isaiah, "I'm about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered or come to mind." Somehow, I find that emotionally strengthening and reality grounding. 

Many priests are spending today trying to think of how to address yesterday's verdict. The simple minded among us will believe it calls for us to make some definitive judgment. We'd like to see our self as prophets. Maybe the task is more about inviting people to consider the aspects of truth in other lenses. And ground themselves in the truth of God's reality.

Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule

 rag+

Comments

[Lowell Grisham, OA]

Thanks for this.
You put into more articulate words so many of the things I have been thinking. Part of me was following the trial with my lens as a son of a lawyer and a law school dropout who values, and criticizes, the rule of law. Part of me as a white Southerner who grew up knowing stupid people with guns who inherit so much implicit bias. Part of me sits in silence and awe, hoping for the healing presence that comes as eternal love crucified.