protest

last week, there was a protest a couple blocks down.
the reason?
a man was placed into a home in epa, who served time in prison for his crimes against women (aka, sex offender). i didn't know about the big protest on wed, but did see this little one the next day while driving home from work. i biked back to the corner and inquired about what was going on and took a few photos.

if you click on the link above, the article talks some about how people shouldn't just focus on this one man because there are about 60 to 70 sex offenders that live in epa (including a couple men who live quite close to where i live).

my discomfort has percolated to the surface with this experience.
honestly, i feel unsafe at times and find myself wanting to avoid seeing my neighbor. my neighbor.

i've been wrestling with this idea that choosing to love someone even when you know something horrid about them is one of the deepest loves possible. add to the mix: they are a stranger, they've committed a crime against my gender, & they could potentially hurt me.
sounds much like a certain parable doesn't it?

"What does it take to earn God's respect and not simply yearn for God's approval? Jesus' parable about the Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) seems to provide us with an answer: Show mercy. Mercy is different than charity. Mercy brings together generosity, grace, and love—it is not simply forgiving a person to whom you have no obligation or feel morally superior. Mercy calls us to follow Amos' plumb line down into the depths of our own soul, a place that is not hidden from God, but a place that God can illuminate with truth and understanding."
-Sojourners Magazine, by Malinda Elizabeth Berry, July 2007

what would it look like to choose mercy...to choose loving my neighbor?
what would it look like for an entire community to choose to embrace those who have violated another and who have the potential to do so again?
what would it look like for us to see ourselves in that same way?
would we want that same sort of mercy & love extended to us?
i hope so.

on a lighter note, part of why i wanted to take these pictures was to practice photojournalism. i guess in some sense, this was my very first personal assignment.