Ignoring History Today Kills Freedom Tomorrow

Like Deception Creek in this picture, our country’s history is full of unexpected and inconvenient twists and turns. And, just like the creek, our history flows on, incorporating the turns of the past and heading for the next tomorrow.

One of my favorite books when I was in middle school was George Orwell’s 1984. In the book, the main character’s job was to edit history to fit the political and social requirements of the day. This was just one of the many disturbing facets of this brilliantly written book. Middle School for me was ten years before the actual year 1984 when the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union were still standing, so the future described in the story seemed like a real possibility. But, at the time, I only flirted with the terror like when a I watch a horror movie, confident that it was only a story that could not really happen in the United States. I could not imagine ever living in a country where the people were editing history and censoring the past to create a fictional story so that the truth might be hidden from future generations.

This is a story that may have been told to me by a friend of a friend…

My husband discovered a funny bump under his skin and became concerned.  After a couple of weeks of fretting, he finally showed me the bump and asked what I thought it was. I said that he should get it checked by a doctor. So, after two or three months of worrying, he gave in and went to the doctor. The doctor did an examination with a lot of “hmms”, “ahhhs”, and “ohhs” and, when she finished with the exam, she said that she had a strong suspicion that the lump was cancerous. My husband asked her what kind of cancer it was and what might have caused it. She said she could not be sure and was not an expert but if she was right, it was the type of cancer that was caused by lifestyle choices like smoking, drinking, diet, and lack of exercise. She then explained that further examinations and testing were needed to identify the type of cancer and how to treat it. The good news was that with the right treatment and healthier choices, he could beat the disease. My husband sat there deep in thought for a few minutes until the doctor interrupted to set up his test and treatment plan. My husband asked what would happen if he didn’t have the tests and treatments. The doctor explained that after a prolonged illness he would eventually die. However, with treatment and changes in his lifestyle, he could expect to live a normal, healthy life. My husband told her, no tests, and no treatments. He explained that if he had the tests, he might learn that his past behavior caused the cancer, and this would make him feel bad about himself and lead to him having to tell his children about his mistakes. It would be better for him to suffer and die from this disease than to own up to the error of his ways and feel the pain of regret and the judgement of his own children. The doctor started to protest but my husband cut her off, got dressed, thanked her, and came home. Two years later, after a long and painful ordeal, my husband passed away claiming to the very end that he had made the right choice. Soon after his passing our thirty-something son found a funny bump under his skin and became concerned.

Just like the husband in this story, some humans do not want to face the racists roots of the United States and the ways that they contributed to and benefited from the pain, distress, discrimination, and death of other humans who did nothing to deserve such treatment. They want to strip history of all references to the horrors that were inflicted and crimes that were committed upon their fellow human beings. They want to silence the voices of those humans who cried out in agony from violence and in outrage at the injustices and indignities so that they cannot even tell their own stories. The history and the past that these humans want to ignore is the one that occurred at any time preceding the moment called “now” so that their memory and conscience are always fresh and clean. Just like in 1984, these humans want to hide the truth from their children, in a futile attempt to spare them from the pain, discomfort, and shame that this history naturally causes human beings to feel. They do not want to have to answer those questions that each generation of humans who knew this history would ask their parents and grandparents, “Why do people like me have so much, while people who are not like me have so much less? How does this happen? What are you doing to stop it? What are we doing to make it right?”

The United States cannot ignore the tumor of racism that has metastasized to impact every part of our nation without accepting the consequences. Denying that racism has been woven into every part of our nation’s history and is a part of the fabric of our current reality does not change a single historic event or remove the festering wounds that those events inflicted upon other human beings and upon our own souls. Denying racism keeps us all in chains, some in chains of discrimination and violent oppression and some in chains of guilt, shame, and denial. Ignoring the tumors and scars that run throughout our history will only lead to more sickness and to the death of the freedom that is the promise of this fragile experiment in democracy. Only by learning and accepting our history can we find the truth and be set free to reconcile with our fellow human beings and with our own conscience. Until we do that, the United States will continue to fall short of being the land of the free and it certainly cannot claim to be the home of the brave.

Lather-Rinse-Repeat

The instructions on my shampoo bottle say, “Lather, Rinse, Repeat.” This essay is not about the excesses of modern society that drive us to consume twice as much as we need; even though that is true and a huge understatement. Neither is it a humorous commentary about why a bald guy with a close, COVID, clipper cut needs to use any shampoo; which is also true and a very good question. Instead, I want to consider how we humans seem to use the shampoo instructions as a road map for making decisions and dealing with the consequences of those decisions.

We encounter a barrier that separates us from something that we want. We start thinking about the object of our desire and worrying about the barrier. We work ourselves into a lather so that the barrier becomes an oppressive evil and the thing we want becomes an irresistible obsession. It is then that we tear through the barrier and take what we want. Of course, sooner or later, we encounter the natural consequence of ignoring the barrier and we come to realize that the object of our desire does not satisfy as we expected. We seek to rinse off our shame and undo the consequences of our choice. At the end of ourselves, we are humbled to repentance. We promise never again to make the things we want into idols that lead us to make decisions with such horrible outcomes. But, inevitably, we forget or become distracted by a new object of desire and a new unreasonable barrier and we start the whole process again.

Consider the following story:

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Genesis 2:15-17

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Genesis 3:1-5

Spoiler alert. They allowed themselves to be deceived, worked themselves to a lather, ate the fruit, and got the knowledge of good and evil that they wanted, but they did not become like God. Instead, they got the consequences of their choice when God booted them from the garden and started the clock that would wind down towards the time of their deaths. God, himself, would provide the rinse cycle by sending His son Jesus to pay the price of their sins and the sins of the whole world. They, of course, like all of their descendants, hit the repeat button to complete the first lap of the cycle and start the next. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

In summary, God, as a loving Father, imposed restrictions upon his children. These restrictions were imposed so that they would not die but instead live a life of abundance in the garden. God’s restrictions did not take away their God-given freedom to choose. They were free to obey or disobey. They chose to disobey and suffered the natural consequences of their choice.

Humanity now faces the COVID-19 virus. God has prepared us for this virus by giving us the knowledge and wisdom for understanding that the only way to beat the virus is to accept the restrictions that the virus imposes: wear a mask, stay home, and when you must go out, spend little time indoors with others and keep your distance. Doing these things will buy us time to identify and isolate those who have been infected so we can slow the spread of the virus and to develop treatments and vaccines so that we can finally defeat the virus. It will also give us the quickest path for reopening our economy and schools safely.

The consequences of not doing these things are clear: disease, disability, and death for millions and global economic collapse.

Many have allowed themselves to be deceived into believing that there is no virus or that there is a shortcut to beating the virus through ignoring it or fighting the restrictions that the virus imposes. They have worked themselves up to a lather, so badly wanting things to go back to the way they were and at the same time not wanting to do the only things that could make a new normal possible. When their desires and outrage reached a fever pitch, they used their freedom to choose and decided to ignore the restrictions, hoping, against all odds, to obtain what they wanted. Because of those choices, we all are facing the natural consequences.

It is time that we enter the rinse phase of this cycle. If we repent of our foolishness today and start obeying the restrictions that the virus has imposed upon us, we will not be able to undo the consequences of our earlier choices. We cannot cure the millions that have already gotten sick , or save the hundreds of thousands that have already died, or restore the millions that will be disabled for the rest of their lives. We cannot save all of the thousands of closed businesses and restore all of the millions of jobs that have already been lost. However, if we repent and change course now, we will be able to prevent millions from getting sick, millions from dying, and millions from being disabled. We will be able to save thousands of businesses and make it possible for new businesses to open and this will bring millions of new jobs that will get our economy working again.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Will we enter the rinse cycle so that we can repent and make a new choice? Or, will we skip the rinse to go right to hitting the repeat button so that we can work up some more lather and further explore the full depths of the natural consequence of ignoring the restrictions that the virus has imposed. We have the freedom to make the choice, but the virus gets to decide the consequences of the choices that we make.

History Has Its Eyes on You

Events in history, like the Holocaust and the Japanese Internment camps make me wonder, “Why didn’t anyone stand up against that?” and “Who should have been able to stop that?”  Like innumerable other historic events, these two examples are outrageous events where many, many people decided to keep quiet and keep a low profile while horrendous acts were carried out against innocent people.  While some kept quiet others were publicly advocating in favor of the abhorrent activity or in favor of looking the other way. The names and faces of most are lost to history.  The only records of who said something and who did not are in faded letters kept in old shoe boxes locked in storage lockers that someone will soon work up the gumption to throw away.  I don’t even know what my own parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents said or thought about pivotal or infamous moments in history.  It all fades into the mist of half remembered family stories and made-up mythology.

Things will be different for my children and for all of the generations that follow.  Because so many of us are barking our thoughts, opinions, and prejudices realtime into the social media megaphones of our favorite applications without any forethought or filters, our families and other historians will be able to quickly assemble a list of who said what and when they said it.

The shifting sands of time have become the stone tablets of history in the cloud.  No one can hide their social media footprints across the dunes of history.  Every one of our rants, raves, boasts, and pity parties are part of our permanent records.  Every time we were silent on a topic when it was important for our voices to be heard will be apparent for all to see.  What we said, when we said it, who we said it to, and what we didn’t say… is all recorded for all time.  When historians ask about the atrocities of our times, “Who let this happen?” they will be able to list the names of those who are guilty for what they did and the names of those who are guilty for what they did not do.  The record is clear and it is permanent.

This social media time capsule could be used against our descendants.  As the tides of politics, culture, and social norms ebb and flow over time, there is no telling what event will become the bellwether, or litmus test for the future line between famous and infamous.  Could it be that my grandchild might be refused admission to a school or a profession because of my casual social media cackling?  Perhaps my great-grandchild’s suitor will reject her when he finds out, from my posts, the kind of people she comes from. Or, maybe my progeny will be exiled from a town or country because of a time when I was silently complicit in an atrocity. Just as my digitized images will never fade, my digital words will always be legible and could be used to hold someone accountable.

I believe that God knows my every thought and everything I am going to say before it comes out of my mouth.  That is reason enough to be careful and introspective.  My dad used to say, “Engage your brain before you engage your mouth.”  I always try to think twice before I post anything.  I re-read, edit, delete, and start over again.  I do this because I do not want to misrepresent myself or look foolish to my social media friends.  But, when I think about the historical significance and the generational consequences of what I say, I believe I need to be even more deliberate and careful.  Careful to say what I want to say clearly and in a way that best represents my beliefs.  Careful to not allow my silence on a topic to say more about my character than any words.   As they say in Hamilton, “History has its eyes on you.”

 

An American Pioneer

It has been a year and a half since the Republican Party nominated their presidential candidate and, not coincidentally, it has been exactly that long since I left the the Republican Party.  After having been a member of the party since I was old enough to vote,  I realized that as a child of God, a follower of Jesus Christ, a human on the planet earth, a husband, father, brother, and son, an American, a Washingtonian, and a citizen of Issaquah, the GOP no longer had any place where I could stand.   The events of this past eighteen months have confirmed that I was right and showed me that I can never go back.  The party that is responsible for allowing the current situation in our federal government to be inflicted upon the United States and the world can never recover a moral, intellectual, or humanitarian high ground.

My hope is that a new conservative party will form.  One that is fiscally responsible, economically expansive, globally compassionate, genuinely  generous and selfless, and totally committed to building a country and a world that provides opportunity, dignity, liberty, prosperity, and freedom for all.  I would call this party the Pioneer Party.

A pioneer is a person who travels to a new land and stakes a claim to build a better life for themselves, their family, and their neighbors.  A pioneer is full of hope and optimism.   A pioneer is focused on building up his land and passing it on to his kids and grand kids in better shape than when he found it.  Pioneers help each other during times of need and can be counted on to do more than expected to make hard times easier for their neighbors.  A pioneer builds roads, irrigation systems, schools, churches, and towns to improve their business prospects and to provide community for their neighbors and for the new neighbors who will be drawn to that community.

The Pioneer Party will be fiscally responsible and economically nurturing while holding businesses accountable for the social and environmental costs of their businesses.  The Pioneer Party will support and defend the entire Constitution and Bill of Rights and will be nationalistic only as a way to represent its citizens in the global community.  The party will welcome all who are willing to work hard for themselves while providing a step up for the next generation of humans.  The Pioneer Party will not be afraid to accept scientific reasoning and to acknowledge that we are one country on a small planet in a medium sized galaxy in a vast universe, ‘strangers and foreigners’…pioneers.

Throughout human history, pioneers from new cultures have moved into territory that was occupied or recently abandoned by the descendants of the pioneers from an earlier culture. The GOP has abandoned the rich, fertile heart of America and retreated to the barren wasteland behind walls of fear, hate, ignorance, selfishness, immorality, and greed.  I believe the time is ripe for The Pioneer Party to be, like Joshua in the Bible, strong and courageous and go in to take the land.

Putting the Christian Back into Christmas

Every year, about this time, I hear someone say that we must put the “Christ” back into Christmas and I hear others complain that they are offended when someone wishes them a “Happy Holidays” instead of a “Merry Christmas”  The first statement could be a prayer that their own Christmas will be more centered on the celebration of the birth of Jesus.  The second statement however, causes me to cringe.  I hear it as, “Everyone should celebrate the holidays according to my religious beliefs.”  When I hear this, I think that it is time to put the Christian back into Christmas.

One Holiday Season with Many Reasons

Many holidays are celebrated in the last six weeks of the year and people have many cultural and religious traditions for celebrating them.  Just as it would be odd for me to expect that everyone in my town would eat the same thing for dinner each night, it would be odd for me to expect that everyone in my town would celebrate the year-end holidays in the same way.

For me, there are two main holidays that dominate December.  Because these holidays happen at the same time, they can get tangled up with each other like a string of “Christmas” lights.  Even so, for me, they are separate and distinct. It is important that I maintain the distinctions so that I can experience each holiday to the fullest without confusing myself about the motivations for what I am doing and without watering down my faith.

First, there is the Winter Solstice holiday which is triggered by the short days and long dark nights of December.  People have been celebrating this holiday for many thousands of years.  This holiday is a community event that includes all of my friends, neighbors, and family.  The greetings of this holiday are, “Seasons Greetings” and “Happy Holidays” This is the holiday of Santa, lights, trees, tinsel, gifts under the tree, parties, feasts, and treats. We celebrate the end of the year, rebel against the darkness, hope for the year to come and long for the return of the light.  I love this holiday and am all in on the festivities, music, and traditions.

Second, there is the Christian holiday that commemorates when God came to live among us and humbled himself to be born as a baby into the world he created and loves so much. This holiday celebrates an event that happened a little over two thousand years ago.  This is a holiday that includes my Christian friends, neighbors, and family. The greetings of this holiday are, “Merry Christmas”, “The Joy of the Lord be with you”, and “Peace”. It is a time of meditation, prayer, adoration, and worship and a time of shared meals and fellowship with other believers. We celebrate the birth of our Savior, are awed by the mystery, and we worship and praise our loving God.  I love this holiday and am all in on the festivities, music, and traditions.

Loving Our Neighbors Even in December

Some Christians expect everyone they meet in December to greet them with the greeting for the Christian holiday of Christmas.  Jesus said, “Love your neighbors as yourself.”  It would be more in keeping with the teachings of Jesus for Christians to anticipate, acknowledge, and respond in love and compassion to the diversity that we discover in our neighbors.  Every person we encounter is unique.

Some of the people we meet have baggage from the holidays of their past.  They have been hurt by their church experiences or they only have memories of family dysfunction and abuse when they think of the holidays.  We all have baggage, hurts, and hangups.  How do we want others to respond when our wounds are exposed?  How should we respond when we encounter the wounds of our neighbors?

Some of the people we meet are currently walking through the dark valleys and dry deserts of life facing broken relationships, loss of loved ones, loss of health, or loss of employment.  We all are on a journey through this broken world and have all traveled on the desert roads and valley trails of life.  We know what we wanted then and we know what our neighbors need from us now.

Some of the people we meet have different faiths, ethnic backgrounds, cultures, and traditions.  They do not know or acknowledge the Christian God and have not heard about Jesus. We know what it is to be the outsider or the “other” in our own life.  How we longed for understanding and acceptance.  If one person wants to be greeted with a greeting for the holiday of their religion or culture, it is reasonable to expect that their neighbor may want the same thing.  And yet, most of us do not even know the cultural and religious traditions of our neighbors.  Are we loving our neighbors when we expect them to perform our religious practices or when we get offended when they do not take part in our religious traditions?

The God who loved the world so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, commanded us to love our neighbors.  While we are celebrating the Christmas holiday, when we are face to face with the generous, merciful, and loving gift of God, shouldn’t we be even better at loving our neighbors?  Christians, who are trying to keep the Christ in Christmas, should try even harder to make sure that they keep the Christian in Christmas.

Happy Holidays and Season’s Greetings to you all!  Merry Christmas and the Peace of the Lord to my Christian friends!

 

Freedom of Speech Does Not Guarantee You Will be Heard

Once upon a time, a man ordered a meal at a fine restaurant not noticing that the vegetable of the day was broccoli. When his food came he said to the waiter, “I do not like broccoli. Please, bring me another vegetable.” The waiter went to the kitchen and returned with the chef and the owner of the restaurant; all three of them quite upset and demanding that the man leave the restaurant at once. The owner said, “No one who hates farmers and agriculture can eat in my restaurant!” Shocked and confused, the man replied, “All I said was that I do not like broccoli! I simply asked for a different vegetable!” The owner screamed, “Get out! It is my restaurant and what you say you meant does not matter. All that matters to me is my interpretation of what the waiter told me that he heard you say.” The man left the restaurant, confused and bewildered about how requesting an alternate vegetable could be twisted in such a way. He was now very hungry and yet even more sure of his vegetable preference, he smiled and thought to himself, “I really do not like broccoli.”

President’s Day In Their Own Words

Presidents Day, a day set aside to remember two great presidents and others who have held our country’s highest office.  I decided to compare and contrast selected quotes from past presidents with the current holder of the office.  I urge you to make your own comparison and to ponder your own conclusions.

J.Q. Adams	“May our country be always successful, but whether successful or otherwise, always right.”
Jefferson	“On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
Jefferson	“Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.”
Madison	“If tyranny and oppression come to this land it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”
Madison	“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”
Jackson	“I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way; but I am not fit to be President.”
Lincoln	“I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards”
Lincoln	“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
Fillmore	“It is not strange… to mistake change for progress”
Taft	“The intoxication of power rapidly sobers off in the knowledge of its restrictions and under the prompt reminder of an ever-present and not always considerate press, as well as the kindly suggestions that not infrequently come from Congress.”
Hoover	“Absolute freedom of the press to discuss public questions is a foundation stone of American liberty.”
Roosevelt	“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Roosevelt	“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”
Truman	“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit”
Eisenhower	“If you want total security go to prison.  There you are fed, clothed, given medical care and so on.  The only thing lacking … is freedom.”
Eisenhower	“Never waste a minute thinking about people you don’t like.”
Kennedy	“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”
Kennedy	“If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”
Ford	“Truth is the glue that holds governments together. Compromise is the oil that makes governments go.”
Carter	“Our American values are not luxuries but necessities—not the salt in our bread, but the bread itself. Our common vision of a free and just society is our greatest source of cohesion at home and strength abroad—greater than the bounty of our material blessings.”
Reagan	“Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.”
G. H. W. Bush	“If anyone tells you that America’s best days are behind her, they’re looking the wrong way.”

Sad, Hopeful, Optimistic, and Independent

I have felt compelled to post these thoughts; but I have hesitated because I have read the rancor, disrespect, and putrid bile that some spew when they express their opinions or respond to the posts and tweets of others. Some people are comfortable freely posting their social and political views in social media. I do not usually post those things because I think of social media as more of a leaning-over-the-back-fence, neighborhood-chat sort of experience and there are some topics you should try to avoid if you want to have a pleasant chat. However, in every neighborly chat, there comes a time where you somehow need to make sure that your respectful silence is not misunderstood as agreeing with what the other person is saying.   I feel that it is those who do not speak up because of fear who are most responsible for some of the worst tragedies that have taken place in history of this world.  So, that brings me to the end of the preamble.  Time for me to get to the point.

Today, I am sad; but I am also hopeful, like when I attend a funeral for an elderly loved one.  I am sad to see them go and I will miss them; but at the reception, after the service, I am hopeful when I spy a little one toddling across the floor with a gooey cookie in their hands, a huge smile their face, and their whole life ahead of them.

Though no one has died, someone who has been in my life since I was a teenager has decided to move on without me.  Ronald Reagan said it best, so I will take a few liberties with his words to say, ‘I did not leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me.’ Sadly, the GOP has gone to a place that I cannot follow. I have no choice but to continue on my way independently; not straying from the firm, level, high ground of belief in America, pride in my country’s achievements and accomplishments, gratitude for the blessings I enjoy today, and hope and confidence for an even brighter future.  I will not run down, run over, hate, or fear anyone on my way to that future and I will not support anyone who promotes such treatment of others.  Those who hold political views in opposition to my own are not my enemies to be disparaged, imprisoned, or killed; they are my neighbors, friends, and fellow Americans.  The future I see does not have a dripping spigot of opportunity to be rationed for a select few.  Instead, I see a future with a gushing fountain of opportunity that is open to all.

Yes, the GOP has left me and I am sad to see them go; but I am hopeful because there are a lot of folks who, like that toddler at the funeral, are moving forward and who will be my companions on the way to that bright future. I’m going to grab a cookie with one hand and my neighbor’s hand with the other, and with a smile on my face and God’s help, get to work forming a more perfect Union, establishing Justice, insuring domestic Tranquility, providing for the common Defense, promoting the general Welfare, and securing the Blessings of Liberty for myself and for my Posterity.

Well, it seems I had a bit more preambling to do before I finished.  Thanks for leaning over the fence and chatting with me a bit.  Sorry I monopolized the conversation; but I felt that I needed to clarify where I stand so that our future interactions can be based upon mutual understanding and respect.

Hello World

When you start learning a new programming language, the first thing that you learn is to write a short program that outputs the message “Hello World” to the computer display. This is the first blog entry that I have ever written.

Hello World!

Why now, after all of the years of thinking about it? What made me prop my laptop on my knees and start typing? I think that it is important to raise your voice, speak your mind, and to contribute your ideas to the conversations of your life and times.  During pivotal times in history it is not acceptable to censor yourself and to decide on your own which of your ideas or thoughts are important.

Making smart alack comments to my family or coworkers may make me feel better and let me believe that I have expressed my opinion; but really, it is like graffiti.  Even if the comment or the observation that it is based upon has a basis in truth or contains wisdom, when it comes to making a difference in the world, it is just as effective as a well timed belch and not nearly as satisfying.

It is time for each of us to consider where we stand on the issues of our time and to express those thoughts carefully, humbly, and courteously.  It is time for each of us to listen politely, attentively, and studiously to the thoughts and opinions of our neighbors and to ask questions and challenge their assumptions and positions in a diplomatic and Socratic way that will allow participants and observers to learn, grow, and develop.

I don’t expect that these entries will always meet the criteria I  listed above.  In fact, if you know me,  I am just as likely to write about something trivial and yet amusing or something obscure and yet sublime.  I have been pushed over the edge to begin this blog by the current events and politics of our times.  Once the dam is breached, who knows where the river may run.  If I continue to post and you continue to read, we will find out together where this journey will take us.