Given the events of this week, Charlottesville, Trump’s response, Bannon’s departure, one might see it as a moral event, one that mirrors in some fashion the upcoming eclipse. There were signs within the moral universe of some sort of tremor or rumbling—some sort of sign in the heavens. It seemed to portend something, a reckoning perhaps.
The dictionary gives some interesting definitions and meanings for the word “reckoning.” We are told it is has to do with accounting, a bill due, or a computation. Is it possible the bill, the account, for the history of discrimination and racism, slavery, is still not paid? Could it be that while we thought the Civil War, in blood, had exacted a price that surely was high enough to pay that bill, we were wrong? Is it possible that rather than pay the bill, too many accounts were left open and charges were still being made, even up to the present day?
There is also the idea of a “settling of accounts” a “summing up”—a day of reckoning. The bill can only remain unpaid for so long. There comes a day when the account must be settled. Will that day ever come? When we see the KKK, neo-Nazi’s, and the alt-right marching in 2017, one has to wonder. When we hear the egregiously horrible response of this President to that marching, one has to wonder. If the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice, then it also bends toward a reckoning. I pray that day is played out in reconciliation and not violence.
For me, the most interesting aspect of a “reckoning” is the idea of calculating a ship’s position. The events of last week tell us something about the position of this ship called America. In the arc of that bending toward justice, we were “located” this past week. Clearly, we have far to go and much to do.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In