Yesterday, the deal for the release of Brittany Griner in exchange for a mass murderer was completed. Griner, a women’s basketball superstar had been arrested in Russia for having a small amount of cannabis oil. Quite frankly, what she was doing with it is beyond anyone’s imagination.
Under the anti-drug hysteria of the late 1990s, many people in the United States were jailed for about the same kind of crime, and some still sit in U.S. prisons as a result. Victor Boot, on the other hand, known as the “Merchant of Death.” Still has contacts for arms sales, and his release could create even more terror in Ukraine.
A fair exchange? What about poor Paul Whelan, who was arrested on clearly false charges of being a spy? He’s still sitting in a Russian jail. This exchange only shows that high profile people with political clout can be freed while ordinary people without such high profile backing cannot. This is not a credit to our Nation.
Prayer for the Day
Hear a just cause, O Lord, and attend to my cry, prays the Psalmist,
And we join the prayer, for from the Lord comes vindication;
We want that our steps have held fast to the paths of righteousness,
And we call upon God, to show lovingkindness to us.
Be with us, O Lord, as we continue throughout this Advent Season.
To be witnesses of your promise of refuge and peace.
In the name of the One who is our refuge,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
We must be prepared to make the same heroic sacrifices for the cause of peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war.
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without democracy, democracy cannot exist without respect for the identity of peoples and cultures.
- Rigobertu Menchu, Guatemalan indigenous leader
Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
Who are deaf, yet have ears!
Let all the nations gather together, and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them declared this and foretold to us the former things?
You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen,
So that you may know and believe me and understand that I am God.
Isaiah 43: 8-10a