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Cain, Abel, and Booker T.


     Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
      Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.
     Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. (Genesis 4:2b-8) 

          Of course, it's impossible to know what was going through Cain's mind as he hated and killed his brother. Consider, however, that Cain was born first, but Abel's occupation is listed first. Cain followed in his father's footsteps. He tilled the soil. It was hot, sweaty, backbreaking work among weeds and thorns thanks to the God's curse on the ground. It may have seemed to Cain that Abel wandered around and the animals followed him. And what would the live stalk eat if it weren't for all Cain's hard work? Cain brought the sacrifice first. It might even have been his idea for them to make the sacrifice, but Abel's was accepted.
          If you follow history, it happens over and over. Ishmael and Isaac (consider that ongoing sibling rivalry). Jacob and Esau. Rachel and Leah. All  the brothers and Joseph. All Jesse's other sons and David. "Siblings" become "nations", then "races" with the sons of Africa (which some are now proclaiming to have been the older) and the sons of Europe (supposedly younger but somehow with all the advantages.) Then, in the 19th Century, the word "sibling" was changed to "class" but it's still the same old story: the oppressed rising up and mastering his brother instead of the sin that crouches at his door.
          Our world is filled with Cains and Abels, and I'll admit, I feel like Cain a lot of the time. There are lots of people who seem to sail through life while it seems to me like I have to shed blood, sweat and tears to survive. I have no doubt that there are lots of people who would look at my life and say that I'm Abel. I wander around and the animals follow me, eating what they have worked so hard to grow. To them, I don't know the meaning of oppression or hardship. I have to wonder what would happen if instead of gazing resentfully at what our Abel has, we dealt with our sin. I have to wonder what would happen if we followed Booker T. Washington's adage:  "I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him." 

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Birthday of Joseph Lister (father of disinfection for whom Listerine was named) Booker T. Washington

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