The Hanged Man

 

It’s so easy to hate. Doesn’t take a whole lot of effort. Nothing actually productive. Just a wrongdoing, even a perceived one. Don’t even have to be real. And if there is a wrong? You can build on that. And hate is malignant. Contagious. A single match in the forest. Sides form and the biggest, loudest, and most prevalent prevails. Does the hate dissipate after that? No! Because it has infected the ones who lost.

We are told that we should turn the other cheek. And then forgive. That sounds so good in church, doesn’t it? Turn the other cheek and take another hit while cheek number one is still stinging. Makes you want to slap the preacher and see what he does.

Sadly, humans aren’t made like that. Sometimes the cheek hurts too much and you just wanna “spread the love.” You want someone else to hurt like you do. And if it’s the culprit, so much the better. But, in reality, anybody will do. And the psychological scars run deep.

The death of Austin Metcalf is that kind of pain. It had all the ingredients. Senselessness, confusion, racism, and hate. And one more thing. Austin was a twin. Shared a womb and went to the grave alone. He left half of himself here. And I cannot even begin to imagine the pain that boy is going through. He will never get over it. Every morning and every night, from the empty bed, the clothes still in the closet, the last voice at bedtime that silenced forever. Some things you aren’t supposed to get over. And turning the other cheek is crazy.

And then comes the defense of the person who inflicted this. If it were two boys, pretty much alike,it would be bad enough, but Austin was white, and his killer was black. The race cards were dealt, and the news media scarfed it up. I’m not going to discuss the facts and rumors around the case. If this were normal, a judge and a jury would weigh the evidence and decide the cause, circumstances, and disposition of the matter. Then one side will “claim” to have closure, and the other will moan a lack of justice. But no matter the outcome, that bed will still be empty, those lives will never be the same, and no matter what your preacher says on Sunday, the hate will still be there.

And it will grow. As time passes it will become a constant. After around two years it will become one of those “But everybody knows that” things that are accepted as facts. There will be repercussions. Goes without saying. People aren’t designed to “get over it,” they “get even.” And the surviving twin will grow to be an old man. And other graves, including his someday will join the departed. And if the killer lives, he will have to live with it. I’d love to say that maybe he’d find a straight line and do something great for humanity, but I’ve seen others who continued to slip away. The odds are against him. That’s just the way it is. Hate took him here and The Hanged Man is waiting for him at the end of the line. That’s just the way it is. 

I don’t want to see Texas descend into camps of hate. As hard as it is. And I’m not telling you not to be angry. What I am telling you is we should let the law take its course. Without the news service, or demonstrations, or advocates. Texas is bigger than that. Slavery is over. Jim Crow is over. Sundown towns are over. For two football boys to have such an event shows that we have a little farther to go. We all stand at the foot of Austin’s grave.