“I can’t breathe.”

“I can’t breathe.”

That’s the words a man said loud enough to be caught on video in Minnesota.

One story on the incident started this way — “A man exclaiming “I can’t breathe” as a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground and put his knee on the man’s neck for about eight minutes died Monday night…” ( Source)

“I can’t breathe.”

Three words. I wonder how many us can’t breathe right now. Not in a literal way. But for this man, and for so many others, it is literal. And not breathing is costly. It cost him his life. He died with a knee on his neck.

Reminded me of two other quotes:

The first one is attributed to George Orwell — “If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.”

The other quote is attributed to Gary Lloyd — “When the government’s boot is on your throat, whether it’s a left boot or a right boot is of no consequence.”

“I can’t breathe.” A man says this while a knee is on his throat. And he ends up dead.

This Sunday is Pentecost. It’s the Sunday we celebrate the formal appearance of the Holy Spirit as depicted in the Book of Acts. And while the Acts reading will get most of the attention this coming Sunday, I was struck by the Gospel reading assigned for Sunday. It is John 20:19–23,

“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had…