Worn out Moccasins

Honestly, I hated Junior High.  I would not relive those two years of my life if you plopped a suitcase full of filthy, gold lucre down on my kitchen table.  Junior High, for me, can be summarized in the following concepts:  rule by the Popular; denigration of the Un-popular; and ongoing, painful Hysteria (Ie. every issue and situation is bigger than life) where the adults didn't seem to know how to help the kids through it by dialing-it-down and bringing in common sense.  Maybe that is why I LOVED teaching Junior High kids as an adult.  Somehow God took the hell I lived through and made my heart soft with compassion and my mind pretty keen with how to mitigate the angst of the kids before me.  If I didn't need to pay a mortgage, and didn't dislike (most) institutionally employed adults so much, I'd volunteer to teach Junior High for free.  But from this passion to set things on a gentler course, I offer my 2 cents on the current topics related to pandemic.  Let me begin with:

Extreme positions can only be held by those unwilling to step into their neighbor's proverbial moccasins for a moment.  This concept is true not just for the Right, but also for the Left.  As much as I know it is American democracy for each side to speak their piece in a debate, I abhor with a Capital ABHOR the shout-down theatrics that it has become.  That holds true for ALL of those jokers from Whoopi at the far-left to Sean at the far-right.  I once heard a brilliant neurologist bring a room full of noisy people down to a giant hush by dropping her voice below the level of what most dogs can hear.  It was amazing... because when you are bright and you are right, you already have the might.  (can we put that on a tee-shirt?)

Recently, a dear friend sent me an email and stated that Americans are self-centered when they put personal freedom and choice before the well being of others.  Most of the people to the Right would have begun yelling at that point.  I thought it better to consider her spot - she is a senior citizen and the whole covid journey has made her nervous.  Last year, when I spoke to her on the phone, I teasingly reminded her that she can call me any time ... because you can't catch COVID over the telephone.  

I don't think the Media has done us any justice or service by the way they have managed the information and dis-information of the past two years.  Because, remember:  Media exists to sell media.  No news means no jobs for them.  So for them, No News is NOT good news.  It is morally reprehensible how they stir the pot just to keep us on the edge of our seats.  But, our-bad, we should just shut the television off.  I advise everyone:  Take a media break at least once every 3 days.  You will find a few things to be true:  They are not hailing any real scientific progress overnight.  They flip-flop who is the good guy and who is the bad guy to serve the interest of ... hooking a broader cross-section of viewers/readers, and ... therefore, selling more news.  The integrity of the Journalistic profession has come under serious compromise as a result of this trend.  They have become very good at winding a story full of intrigue and emotion, but it is a side-note to whether or not you can count it as 100% true.

I am truly tired of it.  It's a lot like Lucy vanPelt holding the cartoon football for Charlie Brown and promising to not yank it away once he goes to kick it.  He, innocent soul, believes it.  He makes the run, she yanks it away again and then apologizes as if she couldn't help herself.  That is our Media in one glaring cartoon sequence:  they seem to be moving towards transparency and integrity and then they yank the football.  Shut them off.  Take a break.  Let go of what you cannot change or control outside of voting differently next time and writing letters to your congressmen.  (although I'm not sure, given the cast of characters in my state, if writing letters/emails is worth more than gas in the wind to them.)

So back to my friend's angst about those who refuse the vaccine.  I want to remind everyone of these things (which should be neither Left, nor Right, but common logic):

> the vaccine is not a silver-bullet.  It does not work 100% of the time, due to developing variants. There will be variants because that is what viruses do: they try to survive by changing.  

>being asked to wear a mask isn't the worst thing in the world... especially until we figure this thing out.  I might actually be okay with wearing a mask in enclosed, public places if you agree not to 'card' me for my vax status and invade my HIPPA rights.  And, yes, I am fine with taking a pop quiz on my symptoms weekly to get into church or work or wherever.

>the vaccines are NOT yet approved by the FDA ... they gave it a wary "okay to use due to pandemic conditions" which means, in plain English:  "We are not sure if this will do the trick," ... NOR (and I think this is super-important and very under-played) are they sure about any Long Term Effects .... (ie. blood clots that some of them have already caused in SOME people. I take an 81 mg aspirin every other night just to feel better about that risk). Note the legal disclaimer on the Pharma websites. Hmm...

>I emphasized the word "some" because the human bodies that receive these shots are themselves a varying habitat.  Which is where a Smarter or Wiser Governor or President would ADMIT and offer exemptions for specific outliers.  

Analogy #1.  I had a friend over for dinner this winter.  I pan-seared a very nice steak in olive oil because everyone in the Nutritional world like the FDA and even Weight Watchers says how fantastic olive oil is - like a nectar of gods, if you will, that helps your body.  So here I applied a scientific presumption to a specific situation ... and was unaware of my friend's allergy until he ran flying out my front door to rid himself of what would have landed him in an Emergency Room.  Horrifying.  

And yet, every time the Media badgers the hell out of the common population saying "Everyone" MUST get a vaccine, and demonizes those who don't, they forget the principal that, "Not all medicines are appropriate for all patients."  To wit, I find it very ironic that the same cache of folks who deny a person the right to decide with the advisement of their physician what to put or not put into their body, absolutely insist  that whether a woman carries a pregnancy full term has anything to do with the wider community - it's just between "her and her doctor" and "her body, her choice."  Hmm... so I only get rights over my body when it's okay with you?  Not consistent logic.

>And speaking of a person's body ... if you have already had the illness, science says that you have antibodies that will prevent you from re-infection or at least SEVERE illness, should it recur.  And they say in the next breath that while, admittedly, the vaccine is not 100% effective, it will help LESSEN symptoms, if you do get sick.  So, do the math with me, logically speaking:  either the anti-bodies or the vaccine can help prevent severe illness .... um, except of course, if you have underlying co-morbid conditions that make any illness you get a potential for a train-wreck.  Again, I bring you, dear reader, to the point that no 2 bodies are guaranteed to react the same way to the same illness ... or the same vaccine.  So if you have already BEEN sick, it should not be pressed upon you to put vaccine in you for more "just in case" potential.  Talk to your doctor ... 

>It is because of the circuitous logic of "antibodies not being as good as vaccine" business, that I am leery about The Booster.  Are we "boostering" more poisons into our systems needlessly, when we just are NOT sure about anything 100%?  I will tell you who is doing REALLY, REALLY well with all this vaccine business:  Big Pharma.

>Go easier on your Conspiracy Theorist neighbors.  I know I have had my fill of feeling the cloud of doom hanging over me due to mistrust of those in charge, and so the CT's annoy me because they ramp angst up to the next level.  If the powers-that-be hadn't handled this so badly maybe I'd have more confidence in them on the governmental level.  Maybe.  Has this become a matter of leaders not trusting US to act with the best interest "of the herd" in mind - or us not trusting them to act with the best interest of anyone BUT the news Media, Big Pharma, and the Political machine in mind?  Just sayin' it goes both ways.

>Re-education of the masses is to be held with a certain amount of suspicion.  I heard of a workplace recently that, in an attempt to preserve the quantity of workforce, offered to have a medical professional sit down with you and discuss the vaccine.  That means, "we want to pressure you to think like us, to take the recommended action, and we are going to hard-sell you face-to-face if you give us the chance."  Really?  This sounds like just another episode of, "Welcome to my parlor, said the Spider to the Fly."  Look if you are out there and have questions - you can talk to your doctor, your pharmacist, someone at your clinic and ask some questions.  But I am guessing if, at this point, you are holding back, you already know what your own reservations are based on:  allergies, immune compromise, etc.  But I also think if you are out there and don't have any questions and just take the shot, you are a sheep.  EVERYONE should always have questions before they alter their body chemistry with anything.  That's just good stewardship.  But if you have come this far, listening to Uncle Joe and Aunt Nancy and the Pope and everybody saying what they think is right for you, I'd say to get on the Big Pharma websites and do some of your own research.  Then look at who is being "silenced" from the Media and why.  You will see why this is a bigger, more complicated issue than:  "Just get the shot, it saves lives."

>Don't forget to be human.  There are friends, family members, neighbors who are all going to be coming from different positions for different reasons on this thing.  Do not buy into the technique of badgering them because you believe a certain way.  If your vaccine protects YOU, and your mask protects YOU, then you don't need to worry about THEM.  You may perceive their choice as "rolling the dice," but they may have their own personal reasons why they can't do it.  Leave them be in peace.  "Judge not, lest ye be judged," turns out to be sage advice.

This is a tough issue and it really requires all of us being more considerate and more patient with other people.  Do not let the "US" in "USA" be divided into US vs. Them (anyone who disagrees).  Do not become Junior Politicians and demonize anyone who disagrees with you.  Let us be friendly, and walk through this according to the dictates of our own conscience.  When you listen to another person, hear the heart of that person ~ have we pushed each other into such defensive corners that we cannot say to the other person, "I know you are concerned, and I appreciate that.  We need to agree to disagree on this."?  Come out from your own corner, I will come out from mine and let us respect both the person and the process by which we make our decisions.  Do you love me less because I do not think as you do?  I hope not, because I think that is what makes me so charming ...

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Somebody's Daughter

It was embarrassing, but understandable:  he was an old guy out to dinner with his family at a beach restaurant and his baser nature got the best of him.  I watched as he leaned his chair back on its rear two legs to watch her as she passed by, yet again.  The chair wobbled, and he awkwardly righted himself on 4-legs and no one seemed the wiser for his school boy like leering... except me.

The waitress was wearing a blouse and her skirt was made of white gauze.  If you are not a student of textiles let me explain:  I don't put up gauze curtains in my house because... you can see right through them.  Now you know.  She had on this skirt - and no "slip" - so consequently you saw ... buns in very skimpy panties.  It was not like he and I were the only two to notice.  Some of my senior citizen women companions raised eyebrows, others snickered like school girls in the gym.  It was one of the weirdest moments of my adult life.

Everyone's worst behavior seemed on display - hers, his, theirs - and I found something else struggling inside of me.  I know that if it was my family that we were going out to dinner with, we would have not sat down at the table.  Because, well, after all... anyways... 

What was happening in my head was I'm pretty sure the Holy Spirit because He says things other people don't say.  He asked me what I think she wants out of life, out of this moment.  He asked me to consider why.  "He started prepping me" for what He needed to accomplish.  I'm telling this story ten years after it happened because I am NOT bragging about how great I am, or self-righteous or any junk like that.  I am telling it because if He can't find anyone better, brighter, holier to accomplish His plan, then He is going to end up using knuckleheads like me.  And if He can use ME ... He can use YOU - if you want to be in some very odd situations.

I think God has this giant game of human chess that He is playing.  He is trying to move His pieces (us) closer to Him, and sometimes we just do dumb stuff that we need to re-think.  As the voice on my GPS says, in a frustrated computer tone: "re-calculating."  If you want to be that "instrument of peace" that St. Francis prayed to be, then you are going to help people with the "re-calculating."  It's not usually long term employment; it's kind of short term jobs on an as-available basis.  Sometimes lunch is involved.  Just sayin' that aint too bad.

First, I tried to steer the table-talk away from the waitress' morally-challenged dress code.  Then we ate lunch.  And we talked and laughed and planned the rest of our day.  The sun was amazing and the shops and shore were just steps away.  After we paid the bill I told my friends, "go along, I will be with you in a minute."  And they went out the door, as I shooed them along, and one of them kept looking back over her shoulder, apparently dying of curiosity. 

I approached the waitress.  I looked her in the face and kindly said, "I just want to tell you, you have beautiful eyes."  She bashfully dropped her face and thanked me as if she never had a compliment before in her whole life.  She didn't know what to do with it.  It was innocent and got the focus off the other issue. It was an invitation for her to self-appraise her beauty in another way: non-sexually. 

Here's the deeper psychology of why I said that.  I refer you up to the question:  "What do you think she wants?"  I think she wants attention, self-esteem from other people (who are probably bigger train wrecks), and of course, bigger tips (from lecherous customers).  And so she is willing to sell-off part of herself to pay the rent or whatever she's got going.  And this rotten world will let our girls do that ~ sell part of their souls to anyone bearing cash or attention.  She is someone's daughter, grand-daughter, sister.  She belongs to a family, I presume.  And if someone looked at my daughter like that old geezer in the chair did, I'd knock the legs right out from under his chair.  It was disgusting and pitiful... but given the way that people are "wired" it is understandable.  Understandable, but not excusable.  

Yet God did not call me to knock that chair over.  (How I wish I'd get THOSE kind of assignments - they fit my fiery spirit better!)  He called me to help a young woman re-imagine her own self-image and begin a path towards healing and accurate self-esteem.  Maybe we've all had moments where we sold ourselves short, and wish we had a do-over.  I hope that was it for her.  

I remember the biblical story of the woman "caught in adultery" who was dragged before the feet of Jesus by the Pharisees.  They were hoping to gin-up an old fashioned stoning.  The woman was probably a quivering, fearful, humiliated mess.  Intriguing that she was dragged to him alone because as far as I am aware, the act of adultery involves TWO people, not one.  He was seated and leaned over  and began tracing the sand with his finger.  He said to her accusers:  "Let the one who is without sin, cast the first stone."  It says that one by one, they dropped their stones and walked away.  What did he write?  the name of the man, was he one of their buddies?  or did He write the words:  "Somebody's daughter."  Did they think of their own daughters at home, and what if they made the same mistake?  Because of how he handled the situation That Day I think she realized she was Somebody's daughter, ... His.

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The Dismantling of a Society

 It was far into the night when I heard a faint knock at my door. I opened to find a woman standing there with her one palm out-stretched, she apologetically asked me, “Can I borrow a thread … just a single thread … I have been to many doors, just begging for thread before it’s too late…” I almost asked her what color she needed, then I noticed in her left arm she held a worn and torn American flag. Her face was almost translucent, with a sort of timeless and simple beauty. Her dark hair, pulled in a bun behind her head, a white work apron hung over a navy blue full-length dress. Something deep in my soul stirred with a sadness that I would see this day, as I tilted my head sideways to accommodate the shift in reality that was happening in my brain. I opened the door and welcomed her in, in all her weariness and as she passed through my entry way it seemed odd that I could hear no shuffling of her feet. But that was to be expected.

She occupied the area of the chair with a somber humility. That flag was draped across, no, cradled, in her left arm with a reverential sorrow etched across her face. I had seen this look only once before in Michelangelo’s piece called “The Pieta,” where the Madonna held the broken body of Her Son. It was hard to be in the presence of this kind of sorrow. With tears in my eyes, I asked her, “… the thread?” She replied: “All I need is a thread of common sense from every person. Just a thread of common sense so we can mend this glorious banner and all that it stands for …” I tried to hide the cynical pursing of the lips thing I do when I hear hopes such as these, but I apparently failed, and that was when “school began to be in session.” She began:

Look what these foolish people have done to the most beautiful country, the most noble dream that was ever had by mankind! I knew the men and their wives behind them who dreamed a dream of peace, and prosperity and freedom. They knew that peace would only come for all when peace could reign in the hearts of each. It is not merely the absence of war, but the presence of God in the human soul. They knew that prosperity was not a hand-out, but a hand-to-the-plow, and to the anvil, and to any other godly task that sought to cultivate the earth and bring forth fruitfulness. They knew that freedom comes with a cost and demands a responsibility, lest it disintegrate into immoral license. Look what these foolish people have done! The dream that some paid for with their very lives, others have trampled upon while surrendering their own souls to lawlessness and debauchery.

She paused to wipe tears from both sides of her face with the edge of her apron. I hesitated to offer her a cup of tea, lest I remind her of the incident in The Harbor where people first reminded government that unbridled taxations are acrimonious to us. I asked her, “Do you know when the disintegration began, can you put your finger on that moment?”

There are key points that we see as we look over the past fifty years or so. But perhaps it was always a seed of evil here or there in someone’s heart that began the process. Until every heart is full of charity, true kindness to its neighbor, stability will always have a tentativeness to it. But there were key things that I think you can piece together:

Remember how important images are. (she told me, didn’t ask me) When that box with pictures in it was invented it began with stories of families, friends, humorous characters. Now it has degenerated to tales of unrighteousness. Think about what this current culture perceives as “entertainment” – murdering, adultery, cheating, blowing things up, etc. Some even watch what others do in the privacy of their bedroom as entertainment – that is depravity and theft of an unprecedented level. I realize you call them actors, but do they not lose a piece of their own soul when they portray wickedness for you to watch while you eat popcorn? It should nauseate you as a society, instead you generate more and more of it by rewarding the actors with money and status to feed their emotionally broken egos. Then when they kill themselves – literally or figuratively – you mourn their loss as if you ever really knew them as a person who had a soul to tend. It is appalling. And God in His heaven sees this and mourns it.

Then, some strange mentality began to invade the land about removing the Ten Commandments from society. Fools! Without a law, every man will be a law unto his ownself. Since selfishness runs rampant, that can never work out well for a healthy society. For example, in denying the commandment that states: “You shall honor your father and your mother,” You teach the children of the land that they no longer need to Honor their elders, and thus you bring forth a generation of willful, entitled, godless spawn. Then you wonder why, when grown, they kill their own children in the womb for convenience, and abandon the elders who loved them in homes for the aged. They do not play well in sandbox or greater society! They have no moral compass so the gift of freedom becomes merely license for the powerful who will eventually lord it over the ones with less power. They mouth the words of equality, but they make plans for their own rise to hierarchy. This insidious form of self-orientation has come like a foul odor into both institutions of the state and into organized religion. Where there is no godly order, there is no order at all that could respect the hearts and minds of the people. Freedom, when it is perverted to license, actually becomes the very worst sort of slavery – and it is deeply destructive.

Her tone continued with a sobriety and sorrow that I have never heard emanate from the likes of men:

And to the women – you who have permitted this foolish idea of sexual license to become the acceptable standard – do you see now how unstable families have become?! Those who do not honor the marriage bed before marriage are hardly capable of honoring it after marriage. Is it not for the purpose of raising families and creating loving societies that you should marry? Or has this, too, degenerated into selfishness? Passion separated from integrity is like a smoke without a fire: it can evaporate in a short time. The goal is to become the type of people who walk with God, and work for God as they build the society of love around their area of influence. You are to be the city on the hill, the beacon for humankind of what good order and fruitfulness looks like. Imagine the glory of an entire land submitted to this Law of Love!

And to the men – you who think you can gaze with passion upon a woman not your wife and not be found-out? You have turned away from the gift given explicitly to you – your own wife – and allowed a stranger, who is at the same time daughter/sister/wife of another revealed in her vulnerability on the screen for all to see. You victimize this stranger in your imagination, and then you wonder why the love has left your own home? You place the burden of distorted fantasy on the human being that lives beside you and expect them to meet your unbridled, strange passions with enthusiasm, and yet you are unpleasable. When the twin purpose of love and life is divorced from sexuality, all you have is frustration and disappointment. You have made this for yourself. The God of heaven is grieved by the lies you have let take over the most personal part of your hearts. Repent before it is too late!

She continued on with a frankness the likes of which has not been spoken even in churches for years. I know she could have said more but I was almost relieved when she switched to another topic.

Let us speak of a different kind of love for a moment. “Shema.” This word begins the greatest prayer ever uttered by the human heart “Shema,” “Listen.” “Hear O Israel, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your mind and all of your strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

So, let us speak of the first Love – this country was built upon an acknowledgement of both divine destiny and a calling into personal accountability and relationship of each creature with its God. This is a mighty privilege and great calling. And yet an evil undercurrent began to pull this country away from acknowledging its Creator. I call it evil, because it is. A small percentage of those who have never had, or have lost their faith, or choose to reject the call to familiarity with godliness, have demanded that His Name not be spoken of or referenced in the documents and daily life of this country. That is ludicrous! They have free will because of this Creator’s gift and so they are free to reject, ignore, etc. but they do not have the right to tamp-out or steal other people’s rights in this regard. It is time for an era of Mutual Respect among persons ~ that each should be able to believe according to his own conscience without fear or reprisal or harassment.

It is very important that in the name of equality, inclusion and diversity, the very ones who cry for respect, shall not disrespect the others. Mutual respect must be across-the-board for everyone. You don’t have to like or agree with someone’s ideas. You don’t have to endorse things that are wrong or immoral, and shouldn’t have to finance the same with your tax money. But you do have to treat each individual with dignity and respect – even if they don’t treat themselves that way! The second part of the “Shema” prayer invites each to love his own neighbor as himself. Is not this respect the very foundation by which all community thrives?

This “loving” of the neighbor is the very thing the prohibitive (those that begin with “Thou shalt not…”) commandments were trying to achieve. Namely, when you do NOT covet your neighbor’s spouse or possessions, you love your neighbor. When you do not steal from a person, you love them. When you do not kill a person, you love them, truly. So, in what universe would abolishing the Ten Commandments achieve anything other than utter chaos?

Her logic was crisp and fair. A silence fell for a moment. She wasn’t done. She was just re-loading.

Have you seen the statue of the lady in the harbor with her lantern lifted for the world? There is an attraction to freedom that reaches out to both the righteous and the unrighteous. For those who are good, it offers an opportunity for a fresh start, for hard work, for pursuing life and love in an environment of possibilities and resources. But those possibilities and resources only exist because someone came earlier and worked hard to create and expand them. It is critical for moments of epic humanitarian crisis to not overshadow the need for a regulatory order. Without order, chaos ensues. If you look at the crisis already existing in your cities – fruit of a fatherless, abandoned society – that is the microcosm of what will happen if undocumented, unscreened people who have no aim to be contributors to the dream will create. It is important for good order, compassion, and clear heads guide this process. In order to achieve the right, bickering must stop among the parties, and common goals should be established. You cannot jeopardize the whole to salvage the parts. You must thoughtfully incorporate the parts that fit and re-direct those that do not.

And regarding those who came before, think back with eyes of wisdom to bring justice in areas where there has been injury. Were there not both natives as well as immigrants as well as captives that were harmed by the hardness of heart or evil within some from the past? Atonement for injustice means, not an entitling of the descendants of the offended - It should be At-one-ment with all parties in this present moment. How are decisions now made to benefit all parties? Do not disenfranchise someone in the present in an attempt to repair a breach that is decades old! Seek to harmonize all decisions and work for true equity and brotherhood. The path forward cannot be trodden alone, healing is cooperative by its very nature.

The clock ticked during a brief moment of silence as she gathered her wits about her. I felt almost inept to respond to her comments. I have lived amidst the storms of these past few decades and I wondered to myself why did she come now to repair and to warn? As if she knew my thoughts by seeing the furrow on my brow she said,

Ah, I have put my burden upon you. I can see it is late for you as well and you are tired. Really, all I wanted was to say my piece and find someone who could see the threads of common sense. I think you do hear my anguish. I am grateful for your hospitality, I must go now … please, do your part to repair our glorious standard …

She hoisted the flag draped over her left arm and I felt hot tears in the corners of my eyes and a twinge in my heart that almost felt religious. She moved smoothly across the room to the door, she did not need me to open the door for her, really, for as she passed down my driveway into the moonlit night, she vanished …

Good bye, Miss Betsy Ross, I will carry your words in my heart … you are a woman of wisdom and greatness … the world is not worthy of you.

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