Even the rocks will cry out: "Woe to those who establishes by injustice."

Groans for the world to be made whole right along with our own.

Woe to you who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion.

Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain.

Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice.

Even then the stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.

-Habakkuk 2

Even the rocks will cry out.

-Luke 19:40

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I was running the other morning - probably worrying about my job, my team, the world, well, you know the feeling. And, stopped in my tracks at what I saw on the ground.

It was a piece of dried tall grass (or something nature-y) in the form of what looked like the AIDS red ribbon. The red ribbon is an international symbol of solidarity with people living with HIV and AIDS and was created in 1991 by activists and artists in New York. Since 2007 (during the George W Bush era), a giant red ribbon has been displayed on the White House Portico to commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1st.

President Bush Discusses World AIDS Day. White House Photo by Chris Greenberg.

When I saw the dried grass on the ground, it reminded me of the red ribbon. It also reminded me of the time Jesus said, “even the rocks will cry out”. When Jesus said that, he had just come into Jerusalem on a donkey right before he was arrested (and ultimately killed). He was speaking to the religious leaders of the day who wanted Jesus to quiet the disciples who were saying that he was a new king who would usher in peace. In other words, Jesus was opposing the empire and the empire didn’t like it.

****These paid posts are always more personal than my regular science ones, like the Neighbor Tuesday posts. If you’re wondering why, here’s an explanation. Not all of you will want the personal musings and I totally understand that. I also include why I give a preview of these posts to everyone. Not as a bait-and-switch! Believe me, that’s about as opposite of me as you can get. It’s simply to let you all know what content is in the paid posts in case it’s something you’re interested in. The science posts are always free!

If you’re new here, I want to say a huge ‘welcome’! In addition to being a global health epidemiologist, I am also a pastor’s wife of 21 years (and counting!). This post isn’t a religious post, but you’ll see references a few times to scriptures. Not at all to proselytize or to ‘center’ Christianity, but just because it’s my vantage point. I do think many/most of the overarching themes I talk about transcend any religion and simply become about neighboring one another. I hope you see that common theme today, regardless if you’re a person of any faith or not.***