Photo Prayer 2020-42 -- Enemies Embrace
Who rejoices when blue and red crash into one another at full speed? Who delights when they see us smash each other to pieces? Who smiles at our country’s descent into suspicion, confusion, and chaos? I am as guilty as any, thinking my different-party neighbors are the unwitting dupes of manipulating scoundrels, pawns of self-serving interests and bankrupt ideologies. God help us to once again honor one another, to serve one another, and not see respect and deference as signs of weakness. In politics as in religion, the challenge is to love our enemies. Let us embrace, but not in word-to-word combat, in a mangled tangle of self-righteous anger that only pleases those who want us at odds. May we be many, but one.
Photo of blue and red sedans after a head-on collision.
Photo copyright 2010; text, 2020 by Danny N. Schweers.
You can subscribe to these as they are created, and comment.
Comments
Tom wrote:
Wow, great photo and great message, Danny! Thank you.
Emily wrote:
Danny: powerful!!! Thanks! Emily
Dave wrote:
I love the way everything works together in this one Danny. I’m hoping for the best for you and your fellow Americans this fall. Not that the splintering hasn’t been happening here in Canada, too.
Brent wrote:
Good stuff and much needed at this time! Thanks, Danny!
Burley wrote:
Danny: Thanks for your timely message. Also for trying to be equal in the red and blue. I counted 59 blue letters and 51 red letters,
John wrote:
Did you stage that crash in the name of art?
Lynn wrote:
Perfect illustration for your thoughtful comments on the current situation.
Pamela wrote:
Well done. Thank you!
Heidi wrote:
Brilliant!
James wrote:
Danny thank you so much for this hopeful and optimistic thought! Kind of terrible the divide we are living through, but this too shall pass. Something will change with the power of social media mobs, of political junkies, and things may get to where you wish — and me too.
DANNY REPLIED:
Thanks for your comments! Here is what I wrote soon after the July 19, 2010 accident.
A shattering sound and I'm out of the house, following the screams. The driver, who caused the accident, has slid forward and is pinned under the steering wheel of the red car. On the passenger side, where I am, the passenger pleads, "Help me! Help me! My leg is broken.” Then flames leap from the smashed engines. Someone says, "Get her out of there," so I do, knowing you shouldn't move people in accidents, but there's fire, so warning her it is going to hurt, I carry her over to the grass. Her femur is broken, maybe more. In spite of the engine fire, someone named "Steve" climbs in the back of the red car to get better leverage on the driver's seat, to pull it back. He and Phil Fisher together pull it back, bending metal, then each grab a hand and pull the drive to safety. Phil says has never been so scared in his life, his left eye seeing the flames grow higher, his right eye seeing how hopelessly the driver's legs are pinned. Ambulances soon arrive, five or more, and a fire truck, but by then Phil had already found a big fire extinguisher and, against the advice of bystanders who expect a Hollywood fireball, puts it out.
Pray? I wasn't quick to pray, but the longer I live the more convinced I am that prayer takes many forms, and that doing what you can with too little information and not enough experience is a form of prayer. As it turns out, two of the young women in the accident are neighbors, but were in different cars. It was daylight but rain had made the road slick. Both drivers were young women perhaps 20 years old.
If you know young drivers, warn them again about over-confidence while driving in the rain, though it is a rare person who can learn from the mistakes of others.
ON FACEBOOK, BRENT BILL POSTED MY PRAYER TO HIS FEED AND THE FOLLOWING CONVERSATION ENSUED. in the first version of this Photo Prayer, it talked about “unwitting dupes of a manipulating scoundrel” singular.
Gene
So, is this also a veiled insinuation that the 'driver' of the red car is judged to be totally at fault? 🤭 Love you Brent Bill. ❤️ Words and pictures can tell a lot but they can also hide a lot.
Brent
"Who rejoices when blue and red crash into one another at full speed?" No veiled insinuation about fault -- they crash into one another at full speed. Every side seems to think the other is villainous and unwitting dupes. The post simply means what it says. I don't know why you'd think I meant the "driver" of the red car is totally at fault. Please don't make assumptions based on the fact that my political leanings are different than yours, Gene. All sides are at fault. That's why I liked this photo prayer (as I like many of Danny's photo-prayers).
Gene
See it your way, Brent. I will see it mine. Who is the accused manipulating scoundrel on your side?
Brent
I will. I think all parties are responsible for this car wreck. And I do pray that, though we are many, we may one day be one. e pluribus unum.
Dave
Brent... I don’t see how anyone can see fault assigned here..great post and something that we needed to be told. Thanks.
Susan
I don't see any fault assigned here either. Beautiful thoughts. Thank you for posting.
The Author
In writing this, I was trying to be fair. Seeing your reaction Gene, perhaps I should have made reference to manipulating scoundrels, plural, since some people will, like you, think the singular version only refers to one particular person. In fact, on my Photo Prayer website, I have changed it. Thanks for the criticism!