Many of us have heard of the recent situation involving Olympic swimmers Ryan Lochte, Jimmy Feigen, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz. These individuals claimed that they were assaulted at gunpoint over the weekend by assailants posing as police officers. It was later determined that they lied about their account of what actually occurred.
According to Brazilian investigators, these individuals made a stop around 6:00 a.m. Sunday at a Shell gas station. The store owner perceived that they were obviously drunk. The owner told reporters that while they were at the gas station they broke a soap dispenser in the bathroom, damaged a door, tore down a sign and urinated around the premises. A Brazilian official reported that the swimmers paid for the gas station damage in cash.
The fact that these individuals performed these terrible acts, then lied about it – damaging the reputations of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil – is bad enough. Even worse is the response of the Rio Olympics Organizing Committee. Following is the official statement from IOC #Rio2016 spokesman Mario Andrada:
I do not regret having apologized. No apologies from him or other athletes are needed. We have to understand that these kids came here to have fun. Let’s give these kids a break. Sometimes you make a decision that you later regret. They had fun, they made a mistake, life goes on.
Note:
These four individuals were not challenged to take responsibility for their actions
The actions and lies perpetrated by these four were minimized and diminished
These four adults are referred to as “kids”, suggesting that they did not know any better and were having harmless fun. For the record, Ryan Lochte is 32 years old, and the other three are in their 20’s.
It is shameful to see how excuses and explanations are often offered for individuals from certain ethnic, social and economic backgrounds that are not offered for individuals from other ethnic, social and economic backgrounds. More directly, individuals from suburban, white/tan and/or privileged backgrounds are offered excuses and explanations while individuals from urban, black/brown and/or poorer backgrounds are offered labels of bad, evil, immoral, corrupt, unredeemable, criminal, lawless, uncontrollable, etc.
Please allow me to connect this to what is currently happening in Milwaukee: I offer no excuses or explanations for the events that took place in our community on last weekend (including the murders, shootings, fires, looting, vandalism, etc.). I also am not willing to label them bad, evil, immoral, corrupt, unredeemable, criminal, lawless, uncontrollable, etc.
I do ask for your continued prayers as God reveals to Pilgrim Rest who we are and what ministry we are to offer to this community and to the world. I ask for this more than just in response to the events that recently took place. In addition, I ask that you pray for God to reveal to you, personally, who you are and what ministry you are to offer to this community and to the world.
Our community is not all of the negative labels that it has been given. Our community is filled with beautiful, creative, gifted and intelligent people who do not know who they are. That is why they need us to be with them and to bless them… They need us to expect greater things for them…
----- These are not excuses; this is what Jesus would do -----
~Pastor Childs
