Last night I came back from 76 degree weather in Columbus to 36 degree weather in Milwaukee. I came home from a nonviolent resistance to the School of Americas (SOA), training center for soldiers from Latin America who are trained to torture and kill fellow human beings, to a attending tonight a pop rock concert with my wife’s favorite musician.
As each name is sung of those who died at the hands of military trained at the School of Americas, sometimes call School of Assassins, everyone lifts a cross with the name of someone killed by graduates of SOA. The crosses are placed on the fences of Fort Benning.
At the pop concert tonight the crowd was largely white woman of all ages, grandmas to teens. They live in another world than the women of Honduras, Haiti, El Salvador or Columbia. Men and women, some victims of military trained at SOA, were around that weekend to tell us what is happening in the countries controlled by the USA. Hearing the words of those suffering can be hard, seeing the repression of humans in a movie is difficult.
I have a hard time hearing the lyrics of pop rock songs. The hard drum beats are too much for me. The modern pop rock is alien to me. I can easily hear the words of those living and suffering in Latin America. I can sense their pain and feel solidarity with them. The concert I can attend and walk away from. The pain and suffering I saw in Haiti stays with me 24/7.
Many America people are aware of pop rock music stars, few are aware of the terrorist training center, SOA, at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia.
We hear what is easy, like a pop rock concert, and are deaf to what is hard, suffering and killing of persons in Latin America. We see what they want to see, the bright lights of entertainment and are blind to fate of human beings who are poor and in need.
I now better understand why Jesus said in the Gospel after giving and acting his message: “Let those who have ears to hear, hear and eyes to see, see.
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