Reach out. If neccesary shatter a plate

Ideas for a blog post can come when you least expect it. Today was like that. Let me tell you what happened. I was on my usual walk after lunch. Then right there in the front of me on the ground was a shattered plate. That’s strange. When I looked closer, it was text written on it. Interesting. I gathered all the pieces.

When I came home I tried to figure out what was written on it. From the shattered pieces I could gather that the person who wrote this must have been in an emotional state of mind. Also, between the lines and the lost pieces it seemed like a relationship of some sort was shattered. Maybe a romantic relationship. Maybe a friendship. Maybe someone hated their parents for some reason. But that’s not the point.

Here, an unknow person had made a symbolic act of shattering a plate to signify a shattered relationship. Maybe to signify the end so they could move forward. I can only imagine what this person must have been thinking before writing on the plate, going out and shatter it on the ground. Pain. Loss. Betrayal. Anger. But maybe also the person walked away with a lighter heart. Maybe this was what I took for that person to be able to take the next step, whatever neccesary

There are many times I thought I could have done the same. Shatter a plate. Destroy something. Its has been during times when something inside me was broken. I have tried to keep it inside. I have also tried to reach out. The latter has turned out the be the best

So to the unknown plate-destroyer out there. Or to you with an unseen shattered heart. You are not alone. Unfortunately, shattering in life does happen, and I have not found a way around that fact yet.

Again, you are not alone. Reach out. If necessary, shatter a plate.

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Jesus did not understand perfect families

It never struck me before until just now. What if God can be seen as a single parent giving away his son to another family? And Jesus then, didn’t he actually grew up in a not-so-perfect family situation? In the Gospels of the New Testament Jesus is called the Son of God. That is probably most clear in the story of when Jesus is baptised and a voice from Heaven say “This is my Son” – Mathew 3:17. This gives the sense of love between a Father and his Son.

On the other hand, it is also likely that Joseph, Jesus earthly Dad disappeared from the picture when Jesus was relatively young. So even parts of his life we can imagine Jesus living in a single mother household. That might not be strange today, but as far as I know, it was different back then.

But wait, does this mean we cannot place Jesus entirely in a contemporary context of a nuclear family where a mother and father always existed? Probably. Did Jesus even know how it would have been to grow up in idealistic nuclear family? Probably not. His parents wasn’t even married. People around would have labelled him as born out of wedlock. He even called someone no one could see or ever meet his Father.

So, no, I don’t think Jesus would have been familiar with our contemporary context of a nuclear family. Does it matter? Yes, because Jesus, and even God would understand what I means with flawed family relationships. Ideal families are just that. Ideal. Question is if any family lives up the ideal we have created. But that a completely different discussion Jesus might not have lived in perfect nuclear family. Instead he understood imperfect family relationship by experience. That is what matters to me.

Reflections on the knee in the neck

#justiceforgeorgefloyd #blacklifesmatter #icantbreathe

Why does someone, in a position of authority, put their knee on the neck of a guy laying on the ground? That is not even allowed in MMA. Just do a quick google yourself and you will see. And even kids who play wrestle kind of know when to stop if it get too serious. That could for example be when the kid on the ground says he cannot breathe.

Yes, there could be circumstances which I am not aware of in the case of George Floyd which might have required handcuffs. But doesn’t even the police force have strict laws about how to exercise force? I know that in my country, Sweden, police are strictly not allowed to put a knee on someone’s back when the person is laying on the ground. Simply because the risk of choking. The Police should know this. It should have been included in their training. So why does MMA rules not allow kneeing or kicking the head of a grounded opponent. Or why does kids usually stop play fighting when someone has a hard time breathing?

Because there is a huge danger in doing that. Just look at George Floyd. It doesn’t matter if the person putting the knee in the neck is in a position of authority. It doesn’t matter if the guy on the ground is black, white, gay, straight, man, women.

Unfortunately, what happened to George Floyd goes to show that in some parts of the world a wrong skin colour combined with a person in superior authority can have a deadly outcome.

Give me one reason to not believe this is a abuse of authority. Abuse of violence. Abuse based on nothing else than skin colour. George Floyd and my friends of all colours and everyone outside mainstream stereotypes. Yu have nothing to prove. Asking someone to stop when you cannot breathe should be enough.

Those who do not understand when someone cannot breathe with a knee pushed in the neck faced down on the ground…..You have everything to prove!

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