letter to the editor

A heart attack shines the light of love

Mon, 09/10/2018 - 5:00pm

Dear Editor:

When you live in a culture that frequently spews hate and ignores pain and permanent damage of forced child abduction from family love, you begin to accept failure of the soul to love and rescue those in harm’s way. Too often, we give up hope that problems can be solved with love, leading me to sing “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light.

Early this year a miraculous event took place in South Carolina and was seen on our television last week. The story began years ago when a pleasant woman, Annie Caddell, moved into her new home, with African Americans the predominant neighbors. Months later, Annie put up the Confederate flag on the front of her home. Soon there were protestors in the front to hide and block sight of the flag, as if hiding pain would solve the problem. Finding that inadequate, they built a fence around the property to block the flag. Annie’s answer was a taller flag pole. Annie admitted she was stubborn.

Protestor noise became more quiet while bitter resentment filled the air. It reminded me of Germany’s Berlin wall that kept families apart. Eventually the wall came down and families were reunited. 

For Annie the awakening of error was delivered by a heart attack — God’s reminder of mortality. Annie realized the error of only paying attention to what she saw through her own eyes had prevented her from seeing the unintended pain she caused her neighbors.  

Annie’s first step to correct her error was to tell Louis Smith, local Community Resource Center leader, she was taking down the flag, asking him to forgive her. It was replaced by the South Carolina flag — a flag that brought joy and happiness to everyone. It wasn’t long before the walls came down. 

Today she cares more about her living neighbors than her dead relatives. In fact she believes removal of the flag is a greater honor to her dead relatives. The light of love shines on Annie and her neighbors, which is proof our divided country can be drawn closer with love. 

Jarryl Larson

Edgecomb