All the Rage
Since the pandemic, people are constantly on edge, and just a few days ago, I had a near altercation with a gentleman at a local park. I was running near a spot where I needed to cross a road. There is a stop sign, but it is low to the ground and partially covered by a tree overhang. (I have nearly been hit there a few times). A car was fast approaching, so I pointed to the sign. The gentleman called out through his car window, “I see it.”
It wasn’t an angry tone but more of an acknowledgment. I continued on my way, running parallel to the road. The gentleman in the car pulled up next to me and, slowing down, started yelling. I could not make out what he was saying over my headphones, but I did see there was an elderly lady in the passenger seat. I veered off to the right on a side trail that pushed away from the road as I saw his taillights move on. Glancing back, I saw his backup lights on, so I picked up my pace. After about 100 feet, I turned around to see this guy throwing up hand gestures, so I took out one ear pod. He was screaming profanities and taunting me to come back so he could fight me. I just kept running but had some trepidation as I returned to my car after my run.
I reflected on how bizarre the incident was. I did not say a word. I did not even look at him. But somehow, trying to ensure my own safety was such an overwhelming threat that this gentleman felt completely emasculated and belittled that he would abandon an elderly lady in his vehicle to chase me down to settle the score. CRAZY!
Through One Man
The pandemic touched every human on the globe in some way. The current thought is that the COVID-19 virus appeared much earlier than in 2020. The truth is that the pandemic started with one person. And through that one person, the virus spread across the globe, touching humans alive. Whether you believe it was grown in a biological lab or contracted from eating a bat, the truth remains—one person spread this virus to the rest of the world. It puts reality in clear focus. The actions of one man (or woman) can have global and even deadly implications for the rest of humanity. It’s almost shocking. And we are helpless to undo the carnage brought on by this man’s actions.
But the pandemic changed us as people. People act differently, drive differently, speak differently, work differently, and value things differently.
Interestingly, Paul writes in Romans 5, “Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind.” That one man was Adam. By eating the forbidden fruit, Adam committed the one action that would ultimately affect the whole of human and non–human life! According to Romans, ALL CREATION has been subjected to death and decay because of Adams’s action. With the advent of the pandemic, this is much easier to visualize and grasp.
Standing Still
I was a huge U2 fan in the 80s. The passion of Boy and War were just raw and relatable. But it was on their 5th studio album, Joshua Tree, that they penned the lyrics to a song called Running to Stand Still. While the song is about addiction, the larger message is about being stuck—trapped in hopelessness. The closing lines read:
She is ragin’, she is ragin’
And the storm blows up in her eyes
She will suffer the needle chill
She’s running to stand still
This song came to me as I considered the altercation at the park. What started as a friendly gesture to help a fellow human turned into rage. Just as death entered the world through one man, through the pandemic, rage entered the world through one man.
And we see it every day. Life has been reduced to primal existence in a struggle for self-preservation and advancement. Like the person on the road late to work, they weave in and out of traffic, cutting off other cars and jockeying the shoulder to get ahead, only to get caught at the next red light, where we all catch up. We now live our lives running, only to find that we stand still.