Second Thoughts – Cell Phones of the Dead Part II

Greetings Dear Reader,

Sometimes I will end the day with thoughts that are important to get out.  Usually I just write them and put them in my journal folder.  I have chosen that on occasion I will share them with you Dear Reader.

“I can hear the cell phones of the deceased ringing in the triage parking lot; loved ones trying to find them...".

It is Wednesday evening.  Even the very best of those cell phone batteries are dead now.  The phones are all probably in neat little bags as evidence or belongings of the deceased.  Almost everyone has a cell phone.  There are at least fifty-nine that are no longer needed by their owners.  They no longer have meetings to go to, news feeds to catch up on, or concerts to attend.

The cell phones of the dead are not getting the updates and alerts as we feast on the foul news of gun protests and people bashing.  We, the American people have already descended into factions, feuds, and political blamestorming.   We dishonor the dead by grabbing for political gain with their neatly stacked corpses as our platform. 

The cell phones of the dead will not bother you today because they too are dead.  Yes, we need to stop the violence.  We need to stop the bleeding first.  We need to show as much outrage over the commerce over corpses as we do over kneeling football players, aborted babies, and slow hurricane responses.  We have lost our ability to respect the dead.  We use them instead to further our own agenda. 

The cell phones of the dead are still ringing in my mind.  Here is my agenda:  Spend your protest money to care for the families left behind by the dead.  Donate your time giving blood, tissue, or anything else that is needed.  Refuse to engage in political talk about this tragedy and steer the conversation toward active practical ways to help the wounded and the grieving.  Save your opinions for later.  Care for those in need now.

The cell phones of the dead have gone silent.  The cell phones of the wounded are telling stories.  One woman, Jan Lambourne texted this to her husband after being shot, “I love you. I've been shot. I love you so much.”  She was in critical condition.  She has since been upgraded to stable.  We need to create a world where she and her husband want for nothing until she is recovered. 

The nation has forgotten how to be decent to each other in their disagreements.  That means the people, the individuals have forgotten.  That means that just as the cell phones of the dead go silent so do our horror and resolve.  When they were ringing we wanted to answer.  Now we want to blame and fight.  The cease fire in our civil war only lasted long enough for us to pause, not stop. 

The cell phones of the dead have gone silent but not in my heart and mind.  Seek not to know for whom the Cell tolls; it tolls for thee…

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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