Beyond partisanship

Man, I get so tired of knee-jerk my-group-is-better-than-your-group comments!!

I don't care what it is based on- race, gender, hair color, or favorite flavor at Baskin & Robbin's, it annoys the crap out of me!!  I am fairly sure I am not immune to this behavior having not yet achieved perfection, but I try hard not to just arbitrarily decide something based on immediate perception or preconceived notion. I freely admit there are a lot of things that immediately put me off and influence how I feel about a person or an issue- child abuse, porn, personal filth... these tend to make me prickly. There's other stuff, too, of course. I am not fond of fry-your-tastebuds spicy foods and people who think it is funny to humiliate others. I don't like to see mindless waste and destruction. Being told I "have to" will make me dig in my heels and say no. Cruelty and evil make me think seriously about picking up a bat and using it. But, the thing is, I have probably indulged in all or nearly all of these things at some point in my life so far.

There is a place in the Bible that says, "When I was a child, I thought like a child, I acted like a child. Now that I am grown, I have put away childish things."  Not childlike, but childish.

With age we are supposed to acquire maturity and perspective. To learn self-control and personal responsibility, think before we act. Doesn't always happen, but that is the plan. Adults are supposed to set a proper example for the young ones so they can see what it looks like to be in charge of the world.


What has happened here?

Why have we abdicated our responsibility and placed it in the hands of others? As a nation, we do not vote. We do not act responsible. We howl and complain and rant and wave our collective arms, but we do not act.
There are those comparative few who do act , but the percentage is low and not, in my opinion, a good representation of our country and culture. And the ones "in charge" treat us, and rightly so, like petulant children who must not be told too much so as to forstall our temper tantrums. We must be placated and soothed, given the treats we demand whether or not they are healthy or affordable.

9/11 brought on an all-too-brief surge of patriotism and involvement, but our attention waned, distracted by something shiny, we sank once again into apathetic lethargy, exhausted by the unfamiliar effort. Why are we asleep? What will it take to awaken us before we become incapable of moving our atrophied limbs? Our governmental leadership is largely ineffectual, blinded by dogmatic adherence to outdated policies and methods, self-serving and noisy with their efforts to focus attention on the splinter in their neighbor's eye while diligently ignoring, denying or obscuring the log in their own.


As a nation, we are 235 years old this July. Shouldn't we be old enough to know better? To know that you cannot get something for nothing, that bills have to be paid and the trash has to be disposed of properly or the house will become uninhabitable? Shouldn't we grasp the concept that what goes up will always come down no matter how vehemently one denies the existence of gravity?

I am inordinately tired of foolishness being sold to me as wisdom and poison dressed up in colorful candy coating. I am weary of whining and delays and talking endlessly about whatever-the-hell will keep the masses distracted while we go merrily to hell in a handcart. Reality shows and sitcoms and the new outfit we love/hate that some glamorous somebody-or-other spent enough on to feed a family for a week. News programs that I cannot trust and politicians who do not represent and all the other damnable tripe that flows like sewage from the television and the internet. 

I am pissed and I am very frankly afraid of what it will take to bring my beloved country to a place of repentance and change. I do not want to go through that meat grinder, no thank you, I do not.

Like the Prophets of the Bible, I pray for mercy and not judgment, though I know we deserve it. I pray that the eyes and the hearts and minds of those in our leadership would be opened to the truth and that revelation would come to them of the lies that are abundantly spread about. I ask protection for the men and women who serve in the military and in various civilian positions around the world.That hearts and minds would be granted wisdom and discernment and that we as individuals would not be able to tolerate evil any longer.And I pray that we would not be distracted by bread and circuses, reality tv and game shows, name-calling and protest-marching. That I, that we, would remember that we have a backbone and a brain and that we are no longer children and that it is time to put away the childish things.



May the fire and the glory fill you to overflowing-
Mona