The World I Want to Live In
I have to admit that I’ve never attended a political rally or even watched one on TV other than to browse through the clips and commentary of those events. When I was an evangelical, I got my political information secondhand. You might say that I was systemically indoctrinated with a certain view of the world and of politics. For many years, I just accepted what was handed to me without looking at it objectively.
In 2016, something happened in our political landscape that caused me to question my politics and religion. In 2020, and during the pandemic, it got worse because people had a lot of time to invent conspiracy theories and to learn to hate each other more vehemently.
As I walked through my deconstruction of religion and my old view of Christianity, I slowly began to explore things for myself. Earlier in the summer, I went to my first pride event, where I physically observed love and acceptance from people I once dismissed. Last week, I attended the Tim Walz rally in Nebraska, where I once again saw people who loved and accepted each other and were genuinely experiencing joy.
So, this week, we are watching the Democratic National Convention. Some of it is boring and redundant, but most of it is full of hope, optimism, and inclusion, like I have never seen before. Oprah brought the house down last night and, in a separate interview, said, ” Decency and respect are on the ballot.” What a clear and concise declaration of where we find ourselves at this very moment in time.
But the magic moment for me so far has been when Tim Walz addressed his family, and his neurodivergent son, Gus, stood up, cried, and pointed at his dad, mouthing the words, “That’s my dad!” Maybe I’m just more sensitive because I had a stroke a couple of years ago, and I’m now disabled. My grandson is also dealing with neurodivergence and disability.
It breaks my heart when some of the big proponents from the other side make fun of disabled people and other categories like cat ladies and women without children. The Republican vice-presidential nominee even suggested that people without biological children should have less of a vote than other people. The former president mocks and dismisses everyone who doesn’t kiss his ass. In many ways, things like Project 2025 are a return to Jim Crow and the failed discriminatory policies and practices of the past.
It’s not the world that I want to live in!
The World I Want to Live In
- All people celebrated!
The challenge with being an inclusive society, without being too simple, is that when we decide to be more open to other people and groups that don’t look like us, we realize how indoctrinated we have been to the idea that the group we are in honors itself as superior and mentally diminishes those who don’t believe, love, or worship as we do.
We have not all had the same experiences; we have different traditions and see the world differently, mainly because of where we were raised and who we were around. To make this country a melting pot, we don’t have to stop being who we are, but we have to ask many questions to understand how the rest of the population sees the same world that we have often narrowly defined to be exactly like us. And maybe “melting pot” was never the right word, anyhow.
The three events I have witnessed in the past few months all showed me this desire to understand the other person and to pursue paths of love, acceptance, and mutual benefit. It was not at all dangerous or scary, as I was indoctrinated to believe it would be. The people who were different from me weren’t worse than me, and in many cases, they taught me something positive about patience, real love, acceptance, and understanding.
- All emotions expressed!
Something in my past taught me to suppress and ignore my feelings. I was taught that emotions were superfluous in my religion and my home life. It was surprising and life-giving to come to understand later in life that feeling my emotions was one of the most important things to healing and thriving in this world.
For that reason, seeing an emotional crowd over most of the past few days at the DNC was such a relief. Sometimes, it seems like in politics, the only emotions appropriate to the other side are anger and wrath. Possibly, part of that is due to the way we see God.
But I saw people of all different races, religions, and orientations experiencing the world authentically, and it touched me deeply. In many ways, those emotions help us move through our fear of the unknown and fear of people who are different from us. Some people are mocking Kamala Harris for laughing too much. I can’t believe we are at a point in history where we are suspicious of anyone with too much joy. If you are a Christian, it’s one of the fruits of the spirit and one of the best things to see in influential people.
From what I understand, Gus Walz has a condition where his emotions are hard to control. For the most part, I don’t think this is a weakness. Controlling our emotions may be one of the most significant contributors to our trauma and our inability to heal. As they say, “To heal it, we have to feel it!”
It’s true for us individually but also as a community.
- All rights protected
From all the different communities involved in my formation, I inherited some privileges and a distinct view of what I considered necessary. Eventually, I began to fight to preserve those privileges because I thought they were my rights. But we can’t begin to understand rights until those privileges are taken away or if we never had them in the first place. Waking up to a stroke and becoming disabled helped me pay attention and dig deeper for understanding. Wise people showed up to refine my understanding.
Rights cannot be manipulated to protect our bias and privilege. Rights must be inalienable and universal, and they must be fought for because we are selfish and see different people as less worthy.
The world I want to live in recognizes this and pursues those basic rights for everyone before we try to protect the privileges we already possess.
- Real empathy exercised
Empathy is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” Another source says it is “The ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.”
Over the past couple of weeks, I have heard this word more than I ever have in my life. The only exception might be during the #MeToo movement when we were immediately made aware of how women were suffering, which changed the world. We can’t ever realize our religious ideals about society until we learn to empathize with those who are different from us.
I would couple empathy with compassion, or maybe they mean something similar. But I want to live in a world full of empathy, kindness, and compassion, not the easily accessible alternatives!
My social media is jam-packed with images and videos of Gus Walz’s response to his dad’s love. Ten Years ago, I would have responded differently to these posts. But today, as I consider the world I want to live in, I want to see more of this!
I want love, compassion, empathy, emotion, and inclusion instead of abuse, hate and division. The world I want to live in is decent, respectful, and more like Gus Walz than Donald Trump.
I don’t know if I want to spend the rest of my life deeply involved in politics, but I do want to fight for the better, continue to vote, express my opinion, and share what I learn. When the world gets closer to what it should be, we may not even need politics anymore; we can just focus on loving our neighbor and loving ourselves.
Be where you are, be who you are, be at peace!
Karl Forehand
What I Like About Nebraska and Tim Walz
What Kind of Father is the Christian God?
Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Out into the Desert, Leaning Forward, Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart, The Tea Shop and Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity. He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary podcast and community. He is married to his wife Laura of 35 years and has one dog named Winston. His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply! You can read more about the author here.
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