I am not going to watch tonight.
Or tomorrow night.
Or Wednesday night.
Or Thursday night.
I am not going to watch the Republican National Convention.
I have heard it all before.
A thousand times before.
The false bravado.
The name calling.
The mockery.
The innuendos
And more than that the accusations.
The accusations that people like me who have a different understanding of family and community and country and world are somehow dangerous and not to be trusted. Yet, it is my experience that it is people like this who are the ones who volunteer at the food pantry or give a blanket to the homeless or help immigrants integrate in our communities. We even support our temples and mosques and churches, and take our faith seriously.
But what I don’t get is this.
When did it become okay to cheer on a lie?
When did it become okay to clap when someone calls someone else a derogatory name?
When did it become okay to laugh when another person is mocked?
I want to ask…
When and where did you learn that?
And, what if it was your son or daughter
Or your granddaughter or grandson
Who was being singled out that way.
Would it still be okay then?
Would you still laugh and clap and cheer?
Would you still walk by maybe saying something like “It is what it is.”
I don’t know about you, buy my parents taught me better.
And, my church taught me better.
And, the community in which I grew up taught me better.
And, the country I care about stands for something better.
Philip Franz says
August 26, 2020 at 1:42 pmPaul, I was excited to receive this email and could not wait to read it!!! Another good one!!!!Phil
John G.Flynn says
August 26, 2020 at 11:25 pmWe need to love ❤️ our neighbors by praying and asking God to open our eyes to see the false prophets of hate in a party that is trying to take JESUS off the Cross & replace it with
The Hammer & Sickle of God Haters called Marxist . America is the land of Leaders
& this is what we NEED NOW. We need Law & Order on the streets not looting & destruction
Paul Alcorn says
August 27, 2020 at 9:11 amJohn, I appreciate you read my blog and often take the time to comment. On my walk this morning I thought about what you wrote. By all accounts, across his political career where is record is very public, Joe Biden is not a Marxist and those who support him and will vote for him are not looking to replace Christianity with the Hammer and Sickle emblem of the former Soviet Union. Such characterizations are wrong. Nor are the part of the our nation who will vote for him anti-faith. As for “law and order and not looting and destruction…” Again, I think it is wrong to characterize all protestors by the small minority who are violent and who destroy property just as it is wrong to characterize all police officers by the ones who kneel on a person’s neck for nearly nine minutes or shoot a person in the back 7 times. Yes, we are a nation of laws which is what helps to create a civil society which most of us can enjoy and feel safe in, but laws need to be equally applied whether you are white or black or Asian or Latino.
Finally, I do agree that we need to love our neighbors. And, defining who is included in that circle of “neighbor” is the most important religious question of the day.
Paul