Sacrifice to make our country better, safer

By Mia Pohlman

In Mark 10:17-31, Jesus tells the man who asks how to inherit eternal life: sacrifice for the good of your neighbors.

My favorite line comes in verse 21, just before Jesus asks the young man to give away everything he owns: "Jesus, looking at him, loved him."

It is such a striking phrase to me because it is filled with understanding for how hard his next words will be for the young man. It puts aside all of Jesus' own desires and looks upon the man with acceptance for exactly who he is in that moment.

We don't know if the man decides to give from his wealth and privilege to better the lives of others. We do know, however, he goes away sad, because it is hard to detach ourselves from the things we hold on to that justify our identity to ourselves and others.

I think one of the reasons gun violence is killing our people and dividing us as a nation is because we, too, find it hard to sacrifice for our neighbor: some people find it difficult to sacrifice their right to bear arms, others find it difficult to sacrifice their prejudices about people who believe in this right.

The gun debate is a divisive issue our politicians on both sides are too often using against us for their own political gain of power. I am tired of hearing worn-out arguments designed to manipulate us. I am ready for us to be willing to listen to each other and work together to stop people from dying; loss of life is something no one on either side of this debate wants to continue.

It is an issue each of us, no matter what our beliefs on the topic, needs to take to prayer where we seek God within it, asking God to show us what in our own prejudices and desires we can sacrifice for our neighbor to make our country a better, safer place for everyone.

I don't think answering violence with violence is the answer. Education and love are the only real agents of change I know of; but perhaps that is my personal bias. Everyone speaks and believes from what their own experience has taught them, and so there I offer mine.

At my graduation ceremony a few weeks ago, television writer and producer Corinne Brinkerhoff mentioned when she had an automobile accident on a two-lane highway during her senior year of college, an accident that miraculously left her alive but was fatal for the Truman student driving home in the car behind her, the Missouri Department of Transportation didn't take away people's cars and say we could no longer drive. MoDOT also didn't turn a blind eye and allow a high number of innocent people to keep dying on this dangerous stretch of road, denying the road was the problem so they wouldn't have to do anything about it.

Instead, they educated people and worked together to raise funds to make the two-lane highway into a four-lane one. It's Route 36, and today it's much safer for everyone to drive on, and the percentage of fatal automobile accidents has decreased monumentally.

We have to take care of each other. We're all we've got.

What can you sacrifice? Take it to prayer.