I
loved playing peek-a-boo with my children.
I’d cover my eyes and my baby would go quiet. I’d uncover my eyes and exclaim, “Here I am,”
and the crowd would go wild!!
According
to developmental psychologists, the thrill of peek-a-boo comes from an infant’s
inability to understand object permanence.
Babies think that if they can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. This gives infants the illusion of great
power.
During
the peek-a-boo stage, babies think that by covering their eyes, they can make
themselves or anything else ---- disappear.
I’ve
been a big peek-a-boo playing baby.
Online
and in life I see things that make me uncomfortable and I cover my eyes. I’ve said that I was guarding my eyes
from temptation, but that’s true only maybe half the time.
The
other half of the time I’m pretending that if I don’t look at the reasoning of
gay-marriage advocates then the issue doesn’t affect me. I’m telling
myself that if I don’t read the arguments of ultra-conservatives then their
perspectives don’t exist in my world.
I
have acted as though I could make “them” go away by blinding myself.
But
the world doesn’t work that way, and I’m too old to keep pretending that it
does.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood
as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish
things. (1 Corinthians 13:11)
You
can tailor your online profile to filter out every article and idea that doesn’t
absolutely support your worldview and convince yourself that “now, they can’t
get to me.”
Sorry,
bro. They don’t go away because you close
your eyes to them. Just like we don’t go
away because they close their eyes to us.
The
homeless you pretend aren’t a problem because “I don’t see any where I live”: They are real whether you see them or not.
Those
angry Black kids: You don’t SEE what the problem is. But just because you don’t
see it doesn’t mean the problems aren’t there.
Those
fearful White people: Except for the
elite few at the top who run the system, the fear they feel is real. Yeah, we do need to understand why.
Put your hands down. Uncover your eyes.
With
babies it’s a game.
With
adults, it’s a curse.
When
God decided to punish His people He told Isaiah to lead them into peek-a-boo.
“Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do
not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears
heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with
their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.” (Isaiah 68: 9,10)
A people who close their eyes to each other and to God's Truth will eventually walk right into their own destruction.
Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered: “Until
the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, The houses are without a man,
The land is utterly desolate.
(Isaiah 68: 11)
We
don’t have to agree. We don’t have to
reach consensus. In the end some ideas
are as stupid in the light as they sounded in the dark.
But
we need to SEE that. We need to learn
how to make eye contact. We need to look
each other in the eyes and LISTEN.
I
know. You've already heard all you need to know about "them."
Well,
God actually does know everything actually. He is actually always right, and He listens.
“Come now,
and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow. Though
they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isiah 1:18)
You don't have to listen to condemn. You don't have to listen to argue. But to
reason with them, you have to listen to their reasons.
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit
was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore
he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile
worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.(Acts
17:16-17)
My brothers and sisters, my friends and opponents, we don't have the power to make the other side disappear, so we might as well stop screaming at each other with our eyes closed and start reasoning together.
Or, not.
God will let us keep on playing peek-a-boo, if that’s what we choose. Just remember that peek-a-boo's only cute with infants. With adults, peek-a-boo is a curse.
Jesus said, “Let them alone. They are blind leaders
of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a
ditch.” (Matt 15:14)
Ya’
bunch of big babies.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield,
Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking
Organization (SAYNO); and director of
rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
#Awordtothewise
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