I write this reflection on Adolf Hitler’s one hundred and twenty-first birthday. It triggers in my mind that telling and unsettling remark from Bertrand Russell, “the whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”
There should be little doubt about one thing. We live in perilous times. Our republic is sharply divided. Those unhappy with the current administration are waving signs with messages like “this time we’re coming without our guns.” Except, of course, for those who do bring weapons to their demonstrations. People like the former governor of Alaska and several of television’s talking heads pander to this sense of mortal combat, fanning flames of fear and hatred, often centering on the person of the president, emphasizing his alienness, his otherness.
For those of us who have yearned for a lifetime for our country to have some form of national healthcare, the small step of guaranteeing everyone access to health insurance seems a rather small compromise with the status quo. That in response to this, signs appear with pictures of the president sporting Hitler’s mustache, with the words fascism, socialism and communism being bandied about with no regard for even the most tenuous connection to truth, but obviously meant only to fan those flames of fear and hatred, is, to my mind, frightening.
And my concern for many of us on the liberal and progressive side of things, is that we, too, might fall into the warm embrace of certainties. Feeling the sting of unjust accusations, it can be very easy to simply dismiss, to marginalize in our own ways, to forget the power of doubt, the necessity of conversation. At least the necessity if we wish to be true to our principles. But, we do that and we end up in the company of the fools and fanatics.
Now, as I write this primarily for the congregation I serve, I am uncomfortably aware how it can seem I’m assuming those who read this are all on the left side of the American political spectrum. It would be disingenuous not to acknowledge most of us in fact are. But, not all, and not by a long shot. Within our own community, here, we need most of all to be open, to allow the conversation to go forward, to be respectful and challenging. We need to let the ways of love unfold among us.
And, I know we’re up to it. Don’t let the fools and fanatics win the day. Don’t become them. Embrace openness and doubt, and the arts of listening deeply. Eschew the easy retort like “tea bag” for “tea party.” Don’t dismiss everyone who is opposed to what seems obviously right and true. After all, few things are completely right and true. That’s why “wiser people are so full of doubts.” I genuinely believe if we do this and keep open hearts and minds, even in these hard times, we may lose a battle or two, but in the end we’ll win the war. The real war, the war of the heart, where everything ultimately is settled, and where the real decisions of how we shall live are made.
Two cents on a Spring morning.
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