As a writer I used to sometimes search for topics that I thought would peak the interest of my readers. I would steer away from controversial topics or areas that seemed to be too much opinion and not enough facts but now, we have entered an era when even the facts don’t matter. As for politics, as a centrist myself with friends on both side of the aisle I recognized it was hard to get into those topics without alienating people I cared for and I have in the past found out, that was to often the case. So, it was just best to avoid those subjects. But in today’s world and todays political climate, that doesn’t leave much room for anything else.
I used to remember clergy talking about the end times and how the bible said that a time would come when brothers would be pitted against brothers. I am sure in the Bible the word brother was used in the context of more than just your physically related brothers and was meant to include sisters, family, friends and neighbors. I would look at those around me and say to myself could I ever forsake a friendship for the sake of a political issue? We have always disagreed about things and we have always agreed to disagree but the other day I read a piece that called that practice a cop out. That, that approach was no longer acceptable to the party faithful. That the only thing in the middle of the road was yellow lines and dead animals. “Take a stand,” it said or get the hell away from me. That same clergy I talked about at the start of this paragraph would often tell us from the pulpit “That wasn’t right” and that was okay coming from them, because it was called righteous condemnation. Instead we took it and turned it into righteous indignation to sooth our inflated egos.
I know it’s close to the election and things are very contentious. I remember a time when elections were held and then it would be three years later before the contentious topics raised their ugly heads again. A day when politicians weren’t running for reelection the day after the election and at least for a short while, they went to work for the people. We could once again talk over the fence about the weather, our health and work, our family’s.
I love history and read it often, the good the bad and the ugly. I would sometimes read accounts of dictators who murdered their dissenters and I would say to myself who can do that? Who can kill innocent people? Most of the time I found out it wasn’t the dictators themselves who did the grizzly deeds but people they appointed to do that. Then the question was raised in my mind what drives the people who worked for those dictators to do that? There were so many answers but the one that toped my list was fear. Fear of what would happen to them and their families. Look around us today and you will find politicians who aren’t talking about what they want to accomplish f they win. They are only talking about what is going to happen to you if they don’t. That’s called fear mongering and it works. I want to say that’s not ethical but what is ethical nowadays.
It's Sunday morning and I’m missing my church. I go not so often to ask for favors but to be grateful for the life I have enjoyed. I long ago recognized where goodness came from and it wasn’t from Washington. To those of you who have no faith I ask, “Who are you grateful to?”
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