OF POULTRY AND PRESIDENTS

 

Please read in gentle musing tones directed at no specific individual.

Current rhetoric in many fields is rife with hot-button words. And most of them have given me pause for thought. Just because you and I have a different perspective is one of us hate-filled and bigoted? If I say you are, does that not make me the same? I don’t see myself in that light, and I’ll bet you don’t see yourself that way either. Can we not take a firm stand on an issue without squaring off verbally? Must we denigrate one another in the guise of righteousness? The old WWJD bracelets posed a viable question. What would Jesus do in modern times when bombarded with the moral and social choices we are called to make? The first image that comes to mind for me is to picture His writing those mysterious words or symbols in the sand, reminding us that we are all sinners and in no position to cast the stones of condemning words. And calling one another such descriptive words is casting stones, no matter on which side of the issue we stand.

Maybe I’m just simple-minded, but it is difficult for me to see why you or I might label one another unflatteringly simply because we espouse principals each of us believes to be justice. Ah, justice. But what about mercy ~ with one another? It seems that mercy often gets lost in the shuffle of hyperbole.  There was a time when I wanted to shout back that I was not a hate monger or bigot when I felt maligned. Now that desire has finally been replaced with quiet sadness for the one who is unable to replace verbal vitriol with the milder tolerance he assumes I do not have. But I need the same lesson. We cannot duplicate the love of God if we do not extend this grace to one another.