So, I find myself in a men’s’ group meeting last night, and it was my turn to read Scripture for this meeting. I started out by saying that I had been a bit saddened and just a bit angry because I had noticed that in the week prior, the tenor and vitriol in the national political discourse was once again reaching levels of idiocy usually reserved for the political state of affairs of the 19th and early 20th.century. The constant attacks from the right wing based on nothing more than the jingoistic and xenophobic fears of the “other” seem to reach new levels of jackassery never before seen since I’ve been roaming the Earth.
The level of attacks that are racially motivated are increasing; the “jokes” about political assassinations are becoming more commonplace, and the rabid fascination with whether or not the President was born in the U.S., is a truly sad example of how stupid the American right wing is becoming. The right wing is a dangerous part of the body politic, and should never be ignored, but I digress.
As I was on my way home from ten o’clock mass, I find myself behind a van with a truly despicable sticker on his rear window, suffice to say that any question of the drivers feelings toward people of color was made very clear, to add insult to injury, there were kids in the car and they looked old enough to know just what that sticker was alluding to.
Needless to say, I was not in any spiritually clear place, my first impulse was to accelerate and smack the van in the rear but my insurance company whispered in my ear…”hey dummy, it’ll be your fault if you hit him...”
As I was perusing the various suggested Scripture reading I came across the Sermon on The Mount (Matthew 5: 1-16) and The Final Judgment (Matthew 25: 31-46) and a peace came over me; I’m not saying that the room filled with heavenly hosts or that a booming voice came from on high and bathed me in all its glory because it didn’t. What the reading did accomplish was to allow me to let go of the resentment that had built up all week; and to allow the fact that while we have progressed in terms of racial accommodations, we have many a mile to go.
The men’s group got started and it was my turn to read and expound on said Scriptures; after the readings I reiterated the reason why I found solace and peace within, in spite of the “dog whistle” racial underpinnings of said right wing attacks.
I apparently hit a raw nerve among a few of the men present; their reactions to my stated reasons ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime.
One of the men went on to pontificate that we shall all be grateful that we live in a country where free speech is valued above all and that if I traveled to other countries, which I have rather extensively, I should be able to recognize this great gift enshrined in our body politic. The other extreme came from another gentleman who felt put upon because “I AM NOT A RACIST”, to which I answered that I did not made no such charge against him.
I am not a knee-jerk supporter of the Presidents’ policies, but I do recognize the progress that has been made in the face of a recalcitrant Congress and a media that refuses to take on the responsibilities the Fourth Estate.
I see the very real possibilities that a Romney Administration could have disastrous consequences for the nation as a whole…
So… There it is