It's not going to stop ...

I was reading the latest disturbing news from Iraq this morning while this was playing in the background:

Wise Up

by Aimee Mann

from the Magnolia soundtrack

It's not

What you thought

When you first began it

You got

What you want

Now you can hardly stand it though,

By now you know

It's not going to stop

It's not going to stop

It's not going to stop

'Til you wise up

You're sure

There's a cure

And you have finally found it

You think

One drink

Will shrink you 'til you're underground

And living down

But it's not going to stop

It's not going to stop

It's not going to stop

'Til you wise up

Prepare a list of what you need

Before you sign away the deed

'Cause it's not going to stop

It's not going to stop

It's not going to stop

'Til you wise up

No, it's not going to stop

'Til you wise up

No, it's not going to stop

So just...give up

I started getting images from Magnolia running in my head alongside images of the war and I was startled by the emotional congruency. Both prominently feature brokenness as it unravels and leads to more destruction. In Magnolia, it takes frogs raining from the sky for catharsis--for the characters to stop, take stock in their situations and recognize the freedom only available through grace.

What will it take in Iraq?

When listening to this song, I can't help but think, "When will we wise up?" We continually attempt to use violence (a result of human brokenness) to achieve worthy ends and we repeatedly see that we cannot control the effects of these attempts.

Alaa al-Tamimi, the now deposed mayor of Baghdad, is quoted in the New York Time article linked to above: "This is the new Iraq. They use force to achieve their goal." Yes, they do. And so do we. Each side is trying to use the same means to control the situation and to force its will on the other. While it is certainly important to note that each seeks vastly different ends, the underlying intention is still the same.

I'm not sure what Aimee Mann had in mind when she originally wrote the last line of this song, but it seems particularly apropos in this context. I am most definitely not suggesting a surface level comprehension, wherein we simply give up when things become too difficult to accomplish. Whether it was Mann's intention or not, I think this line refers to giving up our attempts to control situations and outcomes in the recognition that God does a much better job of it.

While this almost reads like another take on a relatively simplistic Christian idea, it seems like we don't fully realize the implications of it. Taking up arms and attempting to use violence to reach desired ends--regardless of whether those ends are ultimately just--is a grievous and consequential wresting of power from the hands of God.

I am not saying that humans have no agency whatsoever, merely that we need to understand our role better. In the words of the late Archbishop Oscar Romero: "We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own." We need to separate ourselves, to a large degree, from the results we seek from our actions and refocus on the obedience of our actions.