One year ago, I asked a provocative and topical question of my community about the current state of American politics.
“To all of my friends who support the 45th President of the United States: Is this what you had in mind?”
No post drew so many comments in my time on Facebook – just shy of 300, in fact. It took me nearly three days to thoughtfully engage with each one.
There was anger, pain, hurt, reconciliation, hard conversation – and I hoped people walked away with a little shift in perspective.
What I’ve seen in the past year is a hardening of heart – mine included, at times. And that makes me sad.
If we’re going to work our way out of this mess (if enough want to), it’s going to be a heavy lift. “Powering up” on people we disagree with hasn’t generally worked. Then again, reasoning hasn’t either.
I’ve been rereading G. K. Chesterton and I came across a marvelous observation: “Reason is always a kind of brute force… We speak of ‘touching’ a man’s heart, but we can do nothing to his head but hit it.”
So perhaps we can win a few over in friendship by appealing to their hearts. And that will take fuel from a completely different source.
So in that spirit, could we all commit to a few spiritual disciplines?
Humility: Let’s admit to ourselves that we could be wrong on one point or another.
Honesty: There’s an old adage in recovery circles that we are only as sick as our secrets. It’s true of nations as well – and secrets imprison us all.
Optimism: Friends, God’s ultimate purposes are not riding one administration or another. There are none that are singularly evil or wholly good. < ref. Honesty above >
Vulnerability…
Okay – here goes… My opinions of what happened on that dark day a year ago have not changed much. I still believe that the beautiful dream of American democracy is under threat. But I am still fiercely devoted to friendship with any and all who disagree.
For all of you whom I’ve not interacted with since that long, long discussion thread a year ago, I hope you are well and bid you peace.
I didn’t say the above perfectly or completely or even eloquently, but I guess that’s part of vulnerability as well.
Thanks for reading…
One Year Later…
One year ago, I asked a provocative and topical question of my community about the current state of American politics.
“To all of my friends who support the 45th President of the United States: Is this what you had in mind?”
No post drew so many comments in my time on Facebook – just shy of 300, in fact. It took me nearly three days to thoughtfully engage with each one.
There was anger, pain, hurt, reconciliation, hard conversation – and I hoped people walked away with a little shift in perspective.
What I’ve seen in the past year is a hardening of heart – mine included, at times. And that makes me sad.
If we’re going to work our way out of this mess (if enough want to), it’s going to be a heavy lift. “Powering up” on people we disagree with hasn’t generally worked. Then again, reasoning hasn’t either.
I’ve been rereading G. K. Chesterton and I came across a marvelous observation: “Reason is always a kind of brute force… We speak of ‘touching’ a man’s heart, but we can do nothing to his head but hit it.”
So perhaps we can win a few over in friendship by appealing to their hearts. And that will take fuel from a completely different source.
So in that spirit, could we all commit to a few spiritual disciplines?
Humility: Let’s admit to ourselves that we could be wrong on one point or another.
Honesty: There’s an old adage in recovery circles that we are only as sick as our secrets. It’s true of nations as well – and secrets imprison us all.
Optimism: Friends, God’s ultimate purposes are not riding one administration or another. There are none that are singularly evil or wholly good. < ref. Honesty above >
Vulnerability…
Okay – here goes… My opinions of what happened on that dark day a year ago have not changed much. I still believe that the beautiful dream of American democracy is under threat. But I am still fiercely devoted to friendship with any and all who disagree.
For all of you whom I’ve not interacted with since that long, long discussion thread a year ago, I hope you are well and bid you peace.
I didn’t say the above perfectly or completely or even eloquently, but I guess that’s part of vulnerability as well.
Thanks for reading…