So what are we going to do in the US? Will we do something similar–so foment division among those who don’t look/believe/act like as carefully prescribed by others that we’ll turn into a group of “me-firsters” who can no longer see how important the common good is? That’s what the “T” part of the TP ticket stands for. He’s not tried to hide that part of his character–it’s all about him and his need to get richer, to win and name everyone else as “losers.”
The parallels are disturbing. Will we respond in fear?
I personally refuse to let fear be my primary motivator. But I don’t even pretend to think that I’m anything but lucky.
I don’t live in a neighborhood where sounds of gunshots punctuate the air, where there is no place to walk or buy decent food or where children dare not go outside.
What if I lived like that? What if the educational system were so poor that I, without knowing better, were routinely moved from grade to grade and ended up with a diploma but no essential skills for employment or even daily living? What if no one ever modeled for me what hard work and delayed gratification look like? What if I had not grown up surrounded by books and reading, intellectually curious folk who also lived out of their moral understandings? What if the only way for me to survive would be to join a gang of some sort?
Yes, we need “law and order.” But to impose it without dealing with the real issues is a move toward a police state.
As for the church, the UMC which I so love and have served with joy, may God have mercy on our collective souls. We’re going to need it.
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