ecclesiastes’ eternal poem is known many. the 1960s hit song “turn! turn! turn!” from the byrds fashioned then ancient words into a brilliant pop song.
the poem’s text is “everything has an appointed season, and there is a time for every matter under the heaven. a time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot that which is planted. a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break and a time to build. a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time of wailing and a time of dancing. a time to cast stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. a time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to cast away. a time to rend and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak. a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.” ecclesiastes 3.
this poem, attributed to the wise king solomon, did not specifically address “shame”. what is shame’s counterbalance?
the nation of india, due to a horrific event captured on video, now knows when it is a time for shame. in an ethnically charged province, a mob paraded two naked women down a road. there, they were sexually assaulted and one was reportedly gang raped in public. according to the news, this evil was done to a member of a different ethnic group. the troubled region’s local law enforcement stand accused of dragging their feet to address the atrocity. social media has been credited to finally force the nation’s prime minister to act.
unlike other politicians, prime minister modi took responsibility and declared ‘my heart is filled with pain and anger. the incident from manipur that has come to the fore is shameful for any civilised nation.”
ecclesiastes’ poem expresses that we live in a world of opposing forces. what is the opposite of shame? arguably, pride and indifference are the two.
united states’ politicians shouldn’t view india’s debacle as something isolated to their country. america is quite capable of such a moral collapse. in fact, it happened long before the manipur incident.
in milwaukee wisconsin, an mentally impaired asian woman was sexually assaulted in a public park in a racially charged event. there, after being assaulted by two while nine others watched, she was physically beaten and left to die. this brutality, as well, was reportedly recorded. in this instance, it was one of the perpetrators that did so and it was distributed.
what was american politicians’ response to this particular public sexual assault and murder? nothing. rather, the body politic has no shame. rather, it is full of pride. it panders and promotes public displays of all forms of sexuality- consensual or coerced. in a time when community shame could have awakened a city as to its needs to improve its citizen’s conduct, indifference was only to be found.
turn? turn? turn?
be well!!
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