Order originates in respect.

I remember one of the first times I spent any length of time in the 3rd world, as an adult. It was jarring to me in comparison to the USA where I spent most of my childhood growing up. Traffic lights were suggestions. Lanes in the road were merely decoration. Bribes were common. For someone used to the general commitment to order in the US, the lack of order in the part of the world I was in, startled me. Yesterday we saw an absolute breakdown in order at the US Capitol. It was chaos. Law enforcement officers were ignored. Someone’s life was lost. And our system of governance was temporarily halted, while governing officials, including our Vice President, were rushed out of the room under the protection of the Secret Service.

Order originates in respect. Respect for institutions. Respect for symbols and processes. And most of all, respect for people. When we respect one another, institutions and processes, we behave in a manner consistent with our respect. What makes yesterday so tragic is that it wasn’t something that just happened. For quite some time we have seen increase rhetoric that has fostered this lack of respect for one another. Truthfully, most of us reading this, myself included, need to confess that we have likely participated in this to some degree or another. We have demonized those we disagree with. We have refused to offer good faith assumptions about their arguments.

Order comes from respect. And respect comes from a belief that every person is created equal - a Constitutional value here in the US. And as a Christian, respect comes from my belief that every person was created in the image of God.

If we hope for our country to flourish, we have to begin by respecting one another, as we genuinely believe that every person is created equal. We must no longer see those who disagree with us, particularly those with political disagreements, as vile enemies who need to be crushed, but rather equals who disagree. We also have to acknowledge that there are people, institutions and systems that don’t exhibit respect for every person equally, and it’s incumbent upon us to endeavor to rectify that. Because we respect all people. But we cannot undertake that effort; the effort to restore respect and order, by failing to respect and demonstrating a lack of order ourselves.

I have said many times before that protests are as American as apple pie. And it’s true. It’s a fundamental right of every American to protest, including protests that I profoundly disagree with. We should work diligently to preserve that right. But protests are not the same thing as riots. Protests are American, riots are subhuman.

It’s not hard to identify the source of our problem. We have failed to uphold our Constitutional commitment to respecting each other as created by God as equals. Some would say we have failed in that regard for most of our national history. But the loss of respect seems to be heightened right now. And a loss of respect leads to a loss of order, and a loss of order undermines the foundations of our democracy. So, let’s endeavor to recover a mutual sense of respect for every person. Let’s work to rectify the problem of people, institutions and systems that fail in that regard, but let’s do so through a process that honors and respects the individual across from us - especially the individual that we disagree with. The future of our nation rests on this commitment.