So, the FBI “report” is in the hands of our Senate. I wish that this was still about simply nominating and confirming a Supreme Court Judge. What we have now is a symbolic decision that will either affirm the ability of white privilege to ramrod through a person who is not SCOTUS material or affirm women who dare to speak up about their experiences. Most adults learned a long time ago that bitter fighting is rarely about the real issue but actually about larger, deeper things. In this case, power, women’s issues, white privilege.
Each of us will emerge with feelings of having won or lost. How did our government lead us to this precipice? Why do lawmakers insist on polarizing its own people? Ultimately, we need to see that this is the deepest, darkest issue underlying this circus. Our leaders are self-serving babies who are so hopelessly mired in the swamp they can no longer see straight. Except for – at the moment, anyway – the Big Three. Flake, Collins, Murkowski. I have researched their records on other matters and, in general, disagree with their positions on almost everything else. But today I am so thankful that they each have a backbone and have been willing to take a stand. They seem to get what no one else does – the need to step back, take a breath, gather information. Now, they must decide how they will respond to the greater issues embedded in this nomination circus and either cave to white privilege pressure, which will tarnish the Supreme Court or stand up again for decency. They can be the heroes and we do need a hero or two in our Dark Age.
Please, please, please vote NO.
In the meantime, I turned off the TV and satellite radio until we know the outcome. I will only occasionally surf to a news website. I have been glued to the coverage for a week and can’t stand another mouthful of garbage talk from anyone, including my mocking president. It is really a disgrace. All of it. Instead, I am working on a few crochet hats for a charity in South Africa that serves kids orphaned by HIV and making final preparations to officiate at an outdoor wedding Saturday afternoon in beautiful Northern Idaho. Why ruminate more on the sad state of our country?
Sometimes, however, I pray, and the answer is the same every time:
“Serve others. Do for others. Give. Send hope into the world. You have answered my call to serve others in the past, answer it again. I don’t care if you are officially retired. My work is never done. Find a need, go fill it. Answer this call fully, every day, with enthusiasm.”
Henri Nouwen
Okay! That I can do. Right before I committed to studying for the ministry I was reading theologian Henri Nouwen. He wrote extensively about serving others. He also has a lot to say about modern culture and alienation. His books, “The Way of the Heart” and “Wounded Healer” had a significant influence on me back then. A few days ago I downloaded a collection of his works, and am so happy to rediscover his wisdom. Kind of a full circle thing for me. I know that I have been bashing Catholic Schools the past week but it has to to with the hypocrisy that they can foster. In reality, my favorite theologians have been the spiritual seekers who dwelled on the edges of institutional Catholicism, those whom the Catholic Chruch either minimalized or tried to discredit. Henri Nouwen, Hans Kung, Richard Rohr . I also have been drawn to the Catholic Social Christianity founders, like Dorothy Day. I embrace many Catholic thinkers but am less enamored of the institution, just as I am with the Protestant institutions. It is only the Evangelical Church that disgusts me at all levels.
