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Last week the U.S. Attorney General said, “The answer must not be violence. The answer is never violence.” These are not the words one expects from the nation’s top law enforcer. Taken at face value, police will no longer resort to violence to keep the peace. Officers will be armed only with whistles, like referees. With violence gone from the criminal justice system, lawbreakers will willingly accept arrest and trial, will willingly accept the jury’s verdict. What a fantasy! Loretta Lynch meant nothing like this. She is no utopian idealist. Even so, imagine that you and I want to be right with our community and our country. Imagine that, when we go astray, we try to make it right. Imagine that, when we cannot make it right, we ask for forgiveness, just as we forgive those who wrong us and cannot make it right. Is this a fantasy?

Photo of two glass tumblers on the author's kitchen counter.
Photograph and prayer 2016 by Danny N. Schweers

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Comments from readers

Harold wrote:
An exceptional photograph. Just beautiful. As far as the poem, I don’t believe that it is a fantasy the WE (you and me, and like-minded people) try to make it right, and ask for forgiveness, and forgive when we go astray, but to expect criminals to do so is a fantasy, in my opinion. Very thought provoking!

Tom wrote:
No, it's not a fantasy. President Obama invited police and aggrieved community representatives to take a step in this direction about a week ago, and by my reading of the outcome, there was at least better understanding of the other's experience. We need more of that, and more of striving to live according to the kindest guidance of our diverse religious traditions.

Craig wrote:
Here's an even bigger fantasy: that we all wake up tomorrow in a world that has no guns.

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